A wish come true
by frontdoor6
Summary: A teenage Brony wishes upon a star to live in Equestria and the next day his wish comes true and he's determined to have the perfect life where he will find true friendship and love.
1. Chapter 1: The wishes

**This is my first Fanfic so there might be some fault's but just read it and see how you like it.**

**This story's main character is me (just to let you know) same age and same name. I do not own MLP FIM or the song's I will use in the story, when you read a chapter with a song in it I'll tell you who really owns it at the end of the chapter. **

Chapter 1: The wishes

My name is Matt, I'm a 16 year old British male.

It was a peaceful day in England as usual, I was walking down the garden with a bucket full of chicken feed, it was time for me to feed the chickens we kept in a small pen.

When I entered the chicken pen, all the chickens were waiting for me to pour the food out. Once I was done with them, I stepped out of the pen and went straight to the outside feeding tray where a runt cockerel ate alone. I liked this cockerel because we are so much alike; we eat alone, we wonder the area in circle's, and we were completely alone.

I mean, I have a good life, a loving family, and everyone in the neighbourhood liked me. But there are times where I wished my life could be better.

My school life sucks, I don't have a girlfriend (hell, I haven't even been on one date) and I'm nearly 17 and I don't even have a job, but I'm grateful for what I have.

I walked back up to my house and went inside. My Mum, Dad and sister where gone and I had the entire house to myself.

"Well, time for me to do my faverate thing." I said in a happy tone. I walked into the front room and closed the curtains, I turned on the TV before I played on one of recorded episodes of _My Little Pony Friendship is Magic_. I loved this program and only my family knew about it. If I could have the perfect life, I'd have it there.

**That night: My room**

While I was sitting in my room, I sat on my stool while listening to songs on my IPod. But instead of focusing on the music, I was staring out the window looking up at the stars while in deep thought about the show.

I then saw a star in the sky; it shined brighter than any star I've seen before, than a crazy idea hit me.

"I must be out my mind." I muttered to myself, I then let loose a big sigh and decided to get it out of my system.

I looked up at the star "I wish I could live in Equestria." I said with my hands wrapped together.

"I can't believe I just did that. I mean, it's not like its real or anything, even though I wish it was." I muttered to myself, I then shut the curtains and went to sleep on my bed. Unknown to me, the star I wished upon started to sparkle even brighter.

**Meanwhile: Equestria/Ponyville**

The bright stars filled the night skies of Ponyville and all the houses were dark, excepted for the library. Where the young unicorn pony Twilight Sparkle paced back and forth in the living room.

"Twilight, it's the middle of the night! What are you doing?" A half-asleep Spike moaned as he stormed down stairs.

She turned to face Spike with a worried look on her face "Because Spike, I have a lot of work to do. I have to make a to-do-list for tomorrow, make a schedule for the next day and finish a report for the Princess. I have no time to lose."

Spike rolled his eyes "you seriously need to relax and get a life."

Twilight gave him a slight glare "okay one, I DO relax, I go to the day spa every Thursday with Rarity. And two, what do you mean get a life?"

"I mean, you need to stop focusing on to-do-list's & schedules and have some fun." Spike said hoping she'd agree.

"I DO have fun." Twilight protested. "Remember last Saturday at Applejack's birthday party?"

"You call that fun? I call that a massacre. I mean, you basically attacked that piñata." Spike argued.

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to her work "I don't have time for this Spike, I'm very busy."

But Spike kept trying to think of idea's until he came up with one which (somewhere deep inside himself) he knew she was going to disagree with.

"Why not try and find a coltfriend?" he suggested.

Twilight turned from her work to face Spike with a confused look on her face "What?"

"You know!…like a colt to date. Because not only will it get you to take a break from all the studying, but it'll give you the chance to be with the one colt that'll make you happier than you already are. I mean, you do deserve it. " Spike said kindly.

Twilight let a small smile crawl on her face "Awww Spike, its sweet of you to think that. But, I'm far too busy to have a relationship right now. Besides, there's nopony I like here anyway."

"Don't knock it 'till you try it, Twilight." Spike said as he walked back towards the stairs.

Twilight smirked slightly "How would you know? You've never had a girlfriend before."

"I'm working on it." Spike protested as he made his way up the stairs.

Twilight's smirk grew larger "I know, I've read your love poems to Rarity."

Spike went wide-eyed and froze on the stairs. He then span around to face Twilight "YOU READ MY POEMS?!"

"Yeah, by the way, under your pillow is NOT a good hiding spot." Twilight said turning back to her work again.

Spike's blushed until his face was completely red, he then let out a small grunt and marched back upstairs and into their room "I've gotta hide those in a different spot." he thought as he curled up into his basket to sleep.

When Spike was back to sleep, Twilight was left alone with her work. But thoughts of what Spike said began the flow through her mind like an ocean, cursing her to stop her work.

"In a way, He's kinda right; it would be nice to have a coltfriend. I mean, I have my friends and I'd never think less of them. But it would be nice to have somepony to share _Those Feelings_ with." Twilight said to herself.

She suddenly lost interest in her work and decided to go up to bed. After climbing the stairs and entering her's and Spike's room, she climbed into bed and looked out the window. "But like I told him, there's nopony I like here…. unless I haven't met him yet." Twilight wondered.

She then looked up to the night sky to see a star that shined brighter than any other she'd ever seen before.

"Well, here goes nothing." Twilight thought as she took a deep breath.

"I wish I could meet the perfect colt for me." Twilight said in a silent voice.

She then got under her covers and went to sleep; feeling that wishing on a star was pointless.

While she slept, the star began to shine brighter. But this one was different; this time the star shot off like a shooting star and disappeared in the sky.

To be continued

**Well, what do you think? Don't worry, this story will get better. TRUST ME, and remember to review and check out my profile to learn a bit more about me, and next chapter will be up soon.**

**Goodnight everypony **


	2. Chapter 2: Arriving in Equestria

**Glad to know that people like me story so far.**

**So anyway here's chapter 2**

Chapter 2: Arriving in Equestria 

**England**

It was a warm morning and I was in the back garden burning rubbish when my sister Jess came waking up to me.

"Hey douche, what'cha doin'." Jess said in a playful tone.

"What's it look like I'm doin'? I'm burning rubbish wench." I answered not bothering to face her. (Douche and wench are our favourite name's to call each other).

"Hey Matt, did you hear those wired noises last night? It sounded like someone was having trouble sleeping." Jess asked with a _that was wired_ look on her face.

I knew what she was talking about; I was having trouble sleeping because of all my thoughts building up inside my head. "Yeah sorry, that was me. I couldn't sleep, I was thinking."

"About what?" Jess asked

I could tell by the tone of her voice that she was truly interested. I let out a big sigh "Jess…can I ask you something personal?"

Jess turned to a better angle to face me "Yeah, go ahead."

I turned my head to face her "Do you ever wish you could live somewhere but you know you could never live there? You know, like it didn't exist."

Her face of interest turned into a face of confusion "I'm not sure. Why do you ask?"

I turned away from her "Ah, not important. Just asking silly questions."

The fire then died out and we both made out way back to the house. But suddenly, Jess stopped and looked up at the sky.

"Whow, look at that star!" Jess said as she pointed to the bright star.

That's weird, is that the same star from last night? "Stars aren't supposed to be out in the day, are they?"

I looked at Jess and she only shrugged, we both looked back up at the sky only to notice something up there.

"What's that." Jess asked pointing slightly to the left, I looked at what she was pointing at and saw what looked like a shooting star appear out of nowhere, heading towards the other star .

Until the shooting star merged itself to the other star creating a bigger star witch made it twice as bright.

We both stood there, watching in wonder of what was going on. Until the star started to get bigger and bigger by the second as if it was coming right at us.

WHICH IT WAS.

Our faces quickly had a look of fright as the star came hurdling towards us. We ran back up the garden to avoid being hit.

The star was now close to the ground, me and Jess dived to the ground as the star rushed past us. But before it hit the ground, it stopped in mid-air, hovering in place.

Me and jess got up from the ground and stared in awe. "What the hell is that thing." I asked slowly walking towards it.

The star then separated back into two single stars and then started to rotate around, going faster and faster till they formed a white circle. The circle then grew larger until it was big enough to jump through.

Lightning then began to squirm around the centre of the circle. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the centre of the circle had an image that looked like a swirling vortex.

I suddenly felt myself being pulled towards it. I tried to back away but the suction began to get stronger by the second.

"JESS, HELP." I yelled, I reach out for her as I was starting to get pulled into the vortex.

She grabbed my hand and tried to pull me back. I suddenly felt my legs lift off the ground and being pulled towards the vortex.

Fear filled my body as if felt my hand start to slip from Jess' until it fully slipped out and Jess fell backwards onto the ground.

I yelled in horror as I was sucked through the vortex.

Jess then got up from the ground. But before she could follow me, the vortex closed and turned back into a single star. The star then faded until it completely disappeared.

"MATT." Jess screamed in despair. Tears formed in her eyes, wondering what happened to her little brother. She then ran back to the house to inform our parents.

As I flew through the vortex, my body felt strange like I was being twisted like a rubber band.

I found the strength to look forward to where I was going; I couldn't see anything but the vortex stretch on and on. Until another white circle appeared in front of me, I fell through it and I crashed into the hard earth.

I didn't have the chance to see where I was as my world turned to black.

**Meanwhile: Ponyville café**

Twilight, Rarity and Rainbow Dash where sitting at their table eating their breakfast orders.

But Twilight wasn't eating; she was too busy staring at a happy couple laughing and nuzzling each other on the other table.

"Hey Twilight, you alright? You haven't eaten your food." Rainbow Dash said snapping Twilight out her trance.

"Oh…..yeah, just a little tired that's all." Twilight said hoping they'd fall for her excuse.

"Twilight darling, I've known you too long to know when you fibbing. It's not good to keep things bottled up, now please tell us what's wrong." Rarity asked in her well-mannered way.

"Well….okay, but please don't tell anypony about this." Twilight begged with her hooves together.

"Whatever you say won't leave this café." Rainbow Dash declared with Rarity nodding in agreement.

"Well…do you think I should get a coltfriend?" Twilight asked nervously.

Rainbow Dash and Rarity looked at each other and then back to Twilight. "Well, that's up to you dear." Rarity answered sweetly.

"Yeah Twilight, if you see a colt you like you just go after'em." Rainbow Dash said in her cool tone.

"That's just the problem; there is nopony in Ponyville that I like, and if there is a colt for me out there, how the hoof am I supposed to find him." Twilight wined as she slammed her head down on the table.

Rarity got off her seat, went over to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry darling, your colt's out there somewhere." Rarity said hoping to cheer her up.

"Year, like my perfect colt's just going to walk into the library today." Twilight said sarcastically as she got up and walked back to the library.

Once she was gone Rarity went back to her seat.

"I hope she'll be alright." Rarity said in a concerned voice

"Don't worry; like they always say, there's somepony out the for everypony." Rainbow Dash said as she went back to eating her food.

But Rarity's concern never left her.

**Meanwhile: outside Sweet Apple Aches**

I groaned as I began to come too.

"Ahh, my head….. if feels like a wall fell on me…..TWICE." I moaned as I rubbed my head, but there was something weird about my hand, it felt hard and I couldn't feel my fingers.

I opened my eyes to see my hand was a hoof, I then looked all over my body to see that my other hand and feet were hooves as well. I wobbled as I slowly stood up; I then saw a small pond and again wobbled as I walked over to it, because it was hard to walk on four legs.

When I finally reached the pond I looked at my reflection to see I was a light green pegasus with a brown spiky mane (about the same as Doctor Hooves' mane) and I still had blue eyes.

"Oh-my-god, I'm a pony. And not just a pony, a Pegasus pony…COOL." I cheered in delight.

I look around my surroundings and recognised it. "No way…..NO WAY, I'm in Equestria. its real, its actually real…or is this a dream?"

I saw a nearby tree and charged at it and hit my head on it, witch left me in a daze. I shook my head and snapped out of it.

"Looks like it's not a dream…..BUT, just to be sure." I then raised my right hoof and whammed it into my manhood.

"HOLY….ok…this isn't a dream." I struggled to say in a high pitch voice.

After recovering from my act, I looked down the road to see a farm that I easily recognised.

"Hey, it's Sweet Apple Aches. Guess I'm meeting Applejack first." I then galloped down the road whistling the show's theme.

To be continued 

**WOW, that took a while. Anyway hoped you liked it and next chapter will be up soon.**

**Goodnight everypony**


	3. Chapter 3: First day

**Okay, I just want to let everypony know that there's a reason for all the typos, you see I have Asperger's syndrome so I have a bit of trouble with reading and spelling. So don't be surprised if this chapter and future ones have typos as well, I hope everypony can forgive me for not telling you sooner.**

**So anyway, please enjoy**

Chapter 3: First day

I continued down the road until I came to the entrance of Sweet Apple Aches. I entered the farmland to find nopony insight.

"Wired….. the place is deserted." I was about to leave until I heard a somepony yelling from the apple tree fields.

"Come on Winona, these apples ain't gonna pick themselves up." Yelled a female voice.

I entered the fields and saw a dog with an apple in its mouth; I recognised the dog as Winona, Applejacks pet. Winona then noticed me, dropped the apple and ran towards me.

When she got close enough, she tackled me to the ground and started licking my face. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Ha Ha, okay girl, Ha Ha, calm down Ha Ha Ha." I laughed as Winona licked me.

"TARNATION WINONA, I told ya'll not to jump on ponies" Applejack yelled as she pulled Winona off of me.

Applejack helped me back up. "Sorry about that, names Applejack, and you?" She asked shaking my hoof really fast.

"M-M-M-Matthew." I said while she shook my hoof, when she let go my hoof was throbbing.

"Well nice to meet cha Matt, ya new in town?" Applejack asked.

"Just arrived, so….witch way is town?" I asked. She pointed her hoof to the road.

"Just further down the road, sugar cube. I'd love to give ya'll the tour, but I'm far too busy apple buckin'. You can always ask my friend Twilight, she lives in the library in town. It shouldn't be too hard, just look for the big house that looks like a tree." Applejack suggested.

"I'll do that, thanks. Hope we hang out some more." I said as I continued to walk.

"Same here." I heard her yell behind me.

**Ponyville**

After walking a while down the road, I finally made it to Ponyville and it was bigger and better than I imagined.

The young fillies and colts were running around playing, the market was packed and even some of the ponies stopped and said hello to me.

After a walking through Ponyville, I found the library. I stopped in front of the door. "Okay Matt remember, play it dumb, you're a pony, you don't know who Twilight is, you don't know who her friends are and you don't know what their like." I said to myself before knocking on the door.

The door opened to reveal Spike. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for someone…..I mean, somepony named Twilight. I was told I could find her here." I told the small purple dragon.

"Yeah she's here, come on in I'll get her." Spike said as he turned to go back inside with me following behind.

I looked around the library and noticed it was bigger in person than it was on the show.

"TWILIGHT, SOMEPONYS HERE TO SEE YOU." Spike yelled up the stairs.

I was so busy looking around the library that I didn't see the wet patch on the floor in front of me and I slipped slightly.

"Careful, I'm mopping the floor." Spike said as he resumed mopping.

At that moment, Twilight was already halfway down the stairs. She looked over to me "Hello, can I help-AHH."

She couldn't finish her sentence as she slid on the wet floor and was quickly sliding towards me.

I rushed forward. "I've gottcha." I said as I caught her in my hooves.

She pushed herself up from my chest and looked me in the eyes.

"You okay?" I asked. I got no answer as she kept looking at me as if she was in a trance.

"Errr….hello." I said trying to snap her out of it.

She shook her head, "Oh…..yeah sorry." She said sheepishly. She pushed herself off of me. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, what's your name?" She asked as she held out her hoof.

"Matthew, but you can call me Matt." I answered as I shook her hoof. As I did, little sparks began to form around Twilight's horn.

"Errr, I think there's something up with you horn." I said in concern.

She looked up at her horn and tapped it with her hoof. "Sorry, that's never happened before." The sparks then stopped.

There was a moments silence between us until I decided to break the silence. "Anyway, I'm new in Ponyville and I ran into one of your friends Applejack, she said you could give me a tour and I was just wondering if you could!".

A small smile appeared on her face. "Of cause, but first can I ask you something?"

"Sure." I answered.

"Can I have my hoof back?" she asked nervously.

I looked down to see I was still holding her hoof. I blushed slightly and let go. Awkward!

"We….better get going." Twilight suggested slightly blushing herself.

"Yeah, we don't want to keep it too late." I quickly said, trying to drawn to awkwardness.

We both said goodbye to Spike and made our way into town. Along the way, not only did I notice a few ponies eyeing me but I noticed Twilight turn to look at me at some points and when I turn to look at her she'd quickly turn away.

We walked to Sugar Cube Corner and upon arriving there I saw a pink pony up ahead. Oh no.

"Hey Pinkie Pie." Twilight yelled out. Pinkie Pie turned to face us with a big smile on her face.

"Hey Twilight, how's it hang-(GASP)" Pinkie Pie didn't finish her sentence as she gasped loudly when she noticed me, she then ran right up to us until she was right in my face.

"Are you a new pony, ooh I love new ponies it always a new opportunity to make a new friend and throw a party, where you from? What's your name? (GASP) wait here!" Pinkie Pie said as she sprang off.

Should've seen that coming. "What the friv just happened?" I asked very confused.

"Pinkie Pie just happened." Twilight answered.

A second later, Pinkie Pie returned with a waggon attached to her back.

I was almost afraid to ask but, "What's that?" I asked nervously.

"This is my welcome waggon. I show it to all new ponies, wanna hear the song that comes with it?" Pinkie Pie asked with a big smile on her face.

I didn't want to upset her so. "Fine, let's hear it" I said.

Twilight then looked a little nervous. "Errr Matt, I don't think that's a good…" Twilight didn't have time to finish her sentence as Pinkie Pie pressed the red button on the waggon.

Suddenly, the waggon turned into a big accordion player with confetti cannons, flags, trumpets and what looked like an oven in the middle. The machine started to play music and Pinkie Pie started to sing.

"_Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!_

_A fine welcome to you_

_Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!_

_I say how do you do?_

_Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!_

_I say hip hip hurray _

_Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!_

_To Ponyville today."_

"Wait for it!" Pinkie Pie said

Suddenly, confetti burst on of the oven and some sort of yellow goo burst out of the cannons.

As the goo got closer to ground, Twilight moved to the side and the goo landed on me and Pinkie Pie, covering us both.

Pinkie pie licked the goo of herself. "Oops, I guess I put the confetti in the oven and the cake in the confetti cannons."

"Again" I added

"How did you know" Pinkie asked with a smile still on the face.

Nice going Matt, "Errr….lucky guess." I said hoping she'd buy it.

Pinkie then looked at me suspiciously, but then the smile returned to her face "Oki Doki loki."

"Pinkie, aren't you late for something?" Twilight asked hoping she was.

"OH HAY STACK'S, YOUR RIGHT." Pinkie said in shock and then sprang off.

Twilight then walked back over to me, I was still covered in cake.

"Sorry about that, Pinkie's just a little…..over hyper." Twilight said with a sheepish smile.

"Don't be, I liked the music, but the cake I could have lived without." I said wiping the cake out my eyes.

Twilight's horn then started to glow. "Here, let me take care of that!"

The next second, all the cake disappeared off of me until I was completely clean. "Thanks" I said.

Twilight had a warm smile on her face. "Don't mention it. Hey I just remembered, all my friends are at the café, you have to meet them. Follow me."

We both started to walk towards the café side by side.

When we finally made it to the café, I saw the rest of the main 6 on a table together talking; they then noticed us and invited us over.

When we walked over to them, Rarity was the first to notice me. "Who's your friend, Twilight?" she asked.

"This is Matthew." Twilight then turned to me "Matt, this is Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Applejack." She said pointing at each of her friends.

"Howdy, Matt." Applejack called out waving her hoof.

"Hey Applejack." I said back to her waving my hoof back.

We then joined them on the table and we all got to talking.

"So Matthew, where you from?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Think Matt, think. "Errr….Manehatten." I answered quickly.

Rainbow Dash suddenly got a grin on her face "Really, I hear you can learn cool flying moves there."

"Yeah you can, I learnt a lot there." I said while taking a sip of my drink.

"Well then, show us what you got!" Rainbow Dash asked I delight.

I put down my drink and walked to an open space. "OK. All I have to do is flap my wings and fly." I thought nervously.

I then flapped my wings and I started hovering in the air. But, the hovering didn't last as I fell to the ground with a hard thud.

"Errr…are you sure you learned moves in Manehatten?" Rainbow Dash asked trying not to laugh.

I then got up from the ground and went back to the table "Ok I'll admit it, I don't exactly know how to fly."

There was a moments silence before Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. "How can you not know how to fly, you have to be in your teen years and you don't know how to fly."

I blushed a little in embracement. "Well I just need practice that's all." I protested.

Rainbow Dash then stopped laughing. "Well, I'm not doing anything tomorrow so I can teach you."

I smiled a little. "Thanks Dash, I'll be there."

She then grinned again. "Yeah, it'll be funny to watch you fall on your face some more." She then laughed a little.

I just smiled and shook my head.

While I was talking to the others, Rarity leaned over to Twilight and started whispering to her.

"Twilight, he's a charm. What was it you said before? _Like my perfect colt's just going to walk into the library today, _what an ironic twist." Rarity said with a smirk on her face.

Twilight nearly spat her drink out but covered her mouth; she then swallowed her drink so she could speak. "He's not my coltfriend, we just met." She protested while blushing slightly.

"Well Twilight you should try. I mean, he's a nice pony, he's funny, kind and has a delightful accent." Rarity said

"Look, I just met him and I don't want to scare him off by trying to start a relationship with him too soon." Twilight argued.

"Too soon? So you DO like him." Rarity said with a grin.

Twilight's face went completely red and she leaned closer to Rarity "Well….kinda, but I don't want to come on too strong." Twilight said in a quiet voice.

Rarity nodded. "OK, here's what you do, take it slow, be nice whenever you can and be yourself."

"Twilight had doubts for a second but decided to accept it "OK, I'll try."

2 hours later, we all said our goodnights and I walked Twilight back to the library. When we got there, she opened the door and turned to me.

"Today was fun Matt, I'm glad my friends like you." She said with a warm smile.

"Yeah, I like them too. Their just as I imagined"

Twilight then gave me a confused look "Huh?"

CRAP. "I mean….their just as I imagined ponies would be like in Ponyville…..cool and fun to be around." I said with a nervous smile.

Today was a good day, and I don't think there's anything that can ruin it.

Twilight's smile returned "Oh ok, so where are you staying in Ponyville?"

DAMN IT.

"Well, I…..Errr…..well to be honest I don't exactly have a place to stay." I confessed.

A look of concern came on her face. "You're homeless? Well I have a guest room; you can stay there if you like?"

I was surprised by her offer. "You'd let me stay with you? Even though we just met."

Twilight then gave me a warm smile. "Sure, you seem like a nice pony and...you're nice to be around." She said blushing slightly

I didn't notice her blushing but I gave her a warm smile. "Thanks Twi." We both then entered the library and went upstairs to find Spike asleep in his basket. Twilight then opened the guest room door.

"This is the guest room; I hope you like it and feel free to read any of the books." Twilight said as I entered the room.

The guest room was big; it had a pile of pillows in the corner to sit on, three large book shelves and a large bed with a window. "I like it, thanks Twi."

"Well, goodnight Matt, see you in the morning." Twilight said as she left the room.

"Goodnight Twi." I said back. She then shut the door, leaving me alone. I then went over to one of the book shelves and pulled out a book called _Daring Doo and the jade horse shoe._

I then lied down on the bed and started to read the book. Ending a good day.

**Sorry it took so long, you would not believe the distractions. **

**Anyway, I want to let everypony know that I finally have Mortal Kombat 9 and if anypony wants to challenge me on PlayStation Network just tell me what your PSN user name is so I can recognise you and what time you want to fight.**

**Some of you might recognize the song from the episode **_**A Friend in Deed, **_**which I do not own. **

**As always, goodnight everypony and next chapter will be up soon.**

**P.S. everypony knows that the Matt in the story is me, Right? So if any pony wants to see what my/my characters pony form looks like, just look at my avatar and I'll add the cutie mark in future chapters. **


	4. Chapter 4: Flying lesson

**HI everypony, I'm glad so many people like my story so far, that's really all I've got to say at this point so let's just get right to it.**

**Enjoy**

Chapter 4: Flying lesson 

The next morning, I awoke to see the book was in my face, I must have fallen asleep while reading again.

I pushed the book off my face and let out a big yawn. When my vision cleared more, I was at first a bit confused where I was but then I remembered I was in the library's guest room.

I got out of bed and walked out of the door into the next room. Twilight and Spike weren't in their beds; I figured they were down stairs so I went down the stairs and into the kitchen, that's when I saw Twilight sitting on the table and Spike cooking breakfast.

"Morning Matt, how was your sleep?" Twilight asked

"It was nice, the bed was really comfy." I said while sitting at the table.

I suddenly felt a bunch of irritating itches all over my body and I was wheezing every time I breathed. Oh no not here too.

I was scratching all over. So bad in fact, that some of my coat was falling out.

Twilight then got a concerned look on her face, "are you ok?"

"Sorry, I suffer from Eczema and Asthma, it's terrible." I explained while still scratching.

Twilight the tapped her chin and then she walked out of the room, a few seconds later she returned with a book called _curing spells._

"Hold still Matt, this might tingle" Twilight said as she flipped through the pages, she then stopped to read the page and then her horn started to glow.

I saw a purple glow form around me and I felt tingly, the glow then faded away and I felt nothing, which was exactly the point.

All the itches were gone and I could breathe clearly. I couldn't believe it, after 16 years of scratching and coughing, I was finally cured.

"I don't believe it, I've been trying to ease my diseases for years but you managed to do it in mere seconds, Twilight your amazing." I cheered as I gave her a warm hug.

She blushed as I did and hugged me back "you welcome."

My eyes shot open when I realized how awkward this must be and then broke the hug.

"Well…I...Errr….should get going, Rainbow Dash said she'd teach me how to fly today." I said as I got off the table and headed towards the door.

"Oh….do you have to go?" Twilight asked a little disappointed.

I turned back to face her, "Yeah, I'm really excited about flying. Don't worry, I'll be back later."

Twilight's ears lowered slightly "Ok, do you need anything before you go?"

I turned back to her "well, there is one thing. Where's the bathroom?"

Twilight then pointed to a door and I ran through it. "That's the closet." Twilight yelled.

I ran out the closet to see another door next to it, "I knew that." I said as I ran through the bathroom door.

Twilight let out a slight giggle.

**Later: Fields outside Ponyville**

A while later, I headed to the open field where Rainbow Dash said she'd meet me. I saw her with Fluttershy waiting for me so I went down to them.

"Hey Dash, whys Fluttershy here?"

"Oh, I..I'm here to teach you how to fly too, if it's alright with you?" Fluttershy said in her quiet voice.

I nodded my head, "sure it is."

We all then headed to a high cliff above a lake. "Ok, now the first thing you have to learn about flying is to find your inspiration and when you do, let it into your heart and when you feel it's rhythm, you fly." Rainbow Dash said while hovering over the cliff.

"How do I find my inspiration, I don't even think I have one" I said.

Rainbow dash then landed in front of me. "Well, you better find it soon because the only thing that's stopping you from falling into that lake is flying." She said as she walked behind me.

"WHOW WAIT! You want me to jump of the cliff?" I said in shock.

"No need." Rainbow Dash said with a deceitful grin.

"No need? What do you mean no-AHHH." I didn't finish my sentence as Rainbow Dash kicked me off the cliff.

I flapped my wings as hard as I could, I hovered in the air for a few seconds but it didn't last as I plummeted down to the lake below and landed with a big splash.

We tried it three more times which all ended in disaster. First I fell into the lake again, then I did manage to get into the air only to crash into a tree and finally I managed to get in the air again only to land in a prickle bush. After plucking all the thorns out my ass, I decided to call it a day and go back home to the library.

**That night: Library **

By time I reached the library, it was already dark out and all of Ponyville was asleep. I entered the library to find the living room was empty, I closed and locked the front door and went into the next room to find Twilight asleep with her head on a desk.

"Why is she sleeping on a desk? Did she stay up waiting for me? Why would she do that?" I forgot all my questions when I noticed Twilight shiver a bit.

"She must freezing, the poor thing." I thought to myself as I looked around to find a blanket on the floor.

I walked over to the blanket, picked it up with my mouth and carefully covered Twilight with it.

I then left to go upstairs to bed. As I walked upstairs, Twilight opened her eyes slightly and noticed the blanket covering her, she saw me going upstairs and smiled warmly, she then put her head back down and went back to sleep with a smile on her face.

The next morning, we were all at the kitchen table eating breakfast, I wasn't sure about most of the food here yet so I just ate sliced apple.

Twilight decided to break the silence. "So Matt, are you going to try and fly with Rainbow Dash again today?"

I let out a big sigh. "I don't really see a point anymore; I'll just end up falling into a lake, smacking into a tree or crashing into a prickle bush again." I then lowered my head in depression.

Twilight tapped her chin and a smile came on her face, she left the kitchen and then returned holding up what looked liked a necklace with her magic.

I felt the necklace fall onto my shoulders; I looked down to see a small purple diamond attached to a silver chain that went around my neck.

"It's my good luck charm; it helped me pass a magic test once, maybe it'll help you with you flying lesson." Twilight said with a confident smile.

I looked up to face Twilight. "Thanks Twi, I promise I'll take care of it."

**Later: The cliff**

I soon left the library and headed back to the cliff to find Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy waiting for me.

I walked over to them and Rainbow Dash's deceitful grin returned. "Ready to fly again Matt".

I smirked at her. "You bet. And this time, I'm jumping."

Fluttershy had a concerned look on her face. "Oh, I hope you'll find your inspiration Matt." She said in worry.

"I hope so too" I said under my breath.

I walked to the edge of the cliff and closed my eyes. "Come on Matt focus, inspiration." I said to myself.

I opened my eyes and looked down at Twilights necklace, I held the diamond in my hoof and thought about how nice Twilights been to me since I got here. I then felt my heart beat faster and my eyes shot open when I understood the situation.

I then closed my eyes again, flapped my wings and jumped off the cliff.

When I opened my eyes, I was surprised to see that I was high above the ground, soaring through the air.

"I'm flying, I don't believe this. This is too cool." I cheered as I turned back towards the cliff.

When I got back to the cliff, I saw that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were looking up at me.

Fluttershy had a cheerful smile while Rainbow Dashes mouth was hanging open.

"Who falling on their face now, Dash? Haha" I yelled down to her and then flew off towards Ponyville.

I flew through the streets of Ponyville and started doing a few stunts while doing it, catching the attention of some ponies.

**Later that evening: Library**

I landed outside the library and walked through the door to see Twilight reading a book, she looked up from her book to see me.

"Twilight guess what! I flew, I actually flew; I found my inspiration." I cheered.

Twilight's smile grew. "Matt that's great, what was it?"

Crap, how do I tell her the SHE was my inspiration?

"Errr well….my inspiration was…..HEY, here's you necklace back. It really helped." I quickly said taking the necklace off, trying to change the subject.

She then forgot about her previous question. She gave me a sweet smile "Keep it! You need it more than I do."

"Really, thanks Twi" I said warmly.

We then looked into each other's eyes. But the moment was interrupted by the sound of falling books.

We looked over to see Spike appear out of a pile of books "Sorry" he said sheepishly.

Twilight giggled and then turned back to me. "Well, I'm kinda tired so I'm going to bed. Goodnight Matt."

As I watched her go upstairs, I felt like calling for her to come back but decided to let her rest.

"Goodnight Twi." I said kindly.

She's so good to me. Tomorrow, I'm going to find a way to repay her. But how?

**So how'd you like it? Hoped you enjoyed it and as always next chapter will be up soon.**

**Goodnight everypony. **


	5. Chapter 5: Getting a Job

**I'm glad everypony likes the romance parts of the story.**

**So here's the next chapter enjoy.**

Chapter 5: Getting a Job 

"Ok, I have to find a way to get some money so I can buy Twilight something nice to say thanks for everything she's done for me." I thought to myself as I wondered through the streets of Ponyville.

I continued walking until I found a wall with _help wanted_ posters all over it. I walked over to them and started reading them.

After a few minutes of reading, I didn't find anything I fancied until I found one for Sweet Apple Arches.

It said they were looking for somepony to deliver orders throughout Ponyville.

I then decided to accept it and started flying towards Sweet Apple Arches.

After a short flight, I landed on the farm land to see Applejack and Big Macintosh putting stuff like apple pies and apple fitters in a cart.

I walked over to them. "Hey Applejack, I hear your lookin' for a delivery pony."

She turned to face me. "Matt? You interested in being our new delivery pony?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it's not the worst job in the world and I need the money FAST."

She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Because…I…want to buy something for Twilight and I'm completely broke." I explained a little embarrassed.

Applejack grinned. "Ah, gettin' cosy with Twilight are we? Well we're always willing to help out a friend, right Big Macintosh?"

Big Macintosh turned to her "Eeyup." He responded.

Big Mac then attached the cart to my back. "Ok Matt, all ya gotta go is deliver the orders to these addresses in Ponyville, collect the money and come back when the cart's empty and then you'll get paid, alright?" Applejack explained to me as she gave me a note with addresses on it.

I nodded "Sure thing AJ." I then set off towards Ponyville.

**Meanwhile: Ponyville library**

Twilight was writing a letter to Princess Celestia

_Dear Princess Celestia_

_I am pleased to inform you that a new pony has arrived in Ponyville, his name is Matthew and he is a very kind pony. I can't explain it, but he's not like other colt's I've met, I feel warm and safe around him and I don't know why. Please write back if you have any answers for this._

_Your faithful student: Twilight Sparkle._

Twilight then gave Spike the letter to burn. Once he did, it shot off towards Canterlot.

"Are you sure you should go to the princess about this? I mean you should know the answer already." Spike said.

Twilight was pacing a little. "I know Spike; I just want to be sure."

A few minutes later, Spike burped up a letter. Twilight then picked up the letter with her magic, unrolled it and started reading it.

_Dear Twilight Sparkle._

_I believe you obviously like this colt so why don't you ask him to the Ponyville dance this Saturday, I'm glad you found a colt you like and I look forward to meeting this Matthew at the dance._

_Till then, you mentor: Princess Celestia._

Twilight's eyes widened a little "(gasp) the dance, I completely forgot. Oh, what am I going to do?".

"Here's a thought, ask Matt to go with you!" Spike said with his arms crossed.

Twilight turned to face Spike. "What? Just like that. But, what if he says no? What if he doesn't like me back?

"Well, you're not going know until you ask." Spike said as he went into the other room, leaving Twilight alone to think.

**Later that afternoon: road to Sweet Apple Arches**

It was a long and tiresome day; I had to go from place to place all around Ponyville, but finally, I was heading back to Sweet Apple Archers with an empty cart.

When I entered the farm, I saw Applejack waiting for me and I walked over to her.

"All delivery's made Applejack." I said in victory as I gave her the bag of money.

She smiled and gave me another bag. "Nice goin' Matt. Here's you pay, 100 bits."

100 BITS! Job's better than I thought.

"WHOW, thanks AJ." I said still surprised by the payment.

She gave me a kind smile. "Don't mention it sugar cube, just be here tomorra for the next batch OK."

"You got it." I said as I trotted back towards Ponyville.

**Ponyville Streets**

When I got back into Ponyville, I was looking around the shops for a gift for Twilight.

"100 bits, imagine what I can buy with that. I could buy her a new necklace with more diamonds or I could buy her a new dress or maybe-" my train of thought was cut off when I noticed a book store.

In the window was a book called _Rarest stories of Equestria history. _Spike mentioned that Twilight had been trying to buy this book but she never had the money to get it.

My decision was made. I went inside the store and I saw the salespony behind the counter, I walked over to him. "Excuse me, how much is the book in the window?" I asked as polite as I could.

"That old thing? 200 bits." He answered.

"200 BITS, how can it be that much?" I asked in shock.

"Sir, this is a one-of-a-kind book and it has the word _Rarest _on the cover, I'm afraid it 200 bits or no deal." He said crossing his hooves.

I let out an annoyed sigh. "Fine, I'll be back tomorrow." I then left the store in a huff.

"200 bits, I can't believe it." I thought angrily as i stormed away from the store, suddenly I heard somepony yelling. "HELP, SOMEPONY HELP ME."

I ran back to the book store to see the salespony outside his store.

"What's up? Royal guard finally catch ya with you outrageous prises?" I said in smart ass tone.

He gave me a small glare. "No, there's some kind of monsters in my store, you have to get them out."

Time to take this to my advantage. "Ok, I'll get them out under one condition."

"Anything, name it." He begged

I then grew a smirk on my face "you sell me the book for 100 bits and they're as good as gone."

The salespony hesitated but after hearing a crash in his store he gave in. "FINE FINE, just get them out of there."

I then entered the store to see the Diamond Dogs looking around the shop.

"This doesn't look like a gem bank." Rover said.

"Did you read the map wrong AGAIN Spot?" Fido asked in an annoyed tone.

Spot flipped the map in different ways. "Woops, I think we turned right when we should have turned left." Spot said sheepishly.

"OH, THAT'S THE THIRD TIME TODAY YOU IDIOT." Fido yelled.

"I'm not the idiot; you're the one who gave me the map so you're the idiot." Spot argued.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better your both idiots. I have an idea, let steal the books and sell them; they may be worth a few gems." Rover said deviously.

"I don't think so Diamond Mutts." I said as I jumped in.

The dogs looked at me and burst out laughing.

"The little pony thinks he's tough" Fido said while laughing.

Rover then stopped laughing. "Yeah, what are you going to do pony? Beat us up?"

A smirk came on my face. "Kinda" I then shot towards Rover and hit him in the gut, sending him crashing into a wall.

Fido ran towards me and tried to grab me, but I leaped between his open legs and used my hind legs to kick him in the ass, making him tumble over.

Spot tried to land a few punches on me, but I had my hoof on his forehead so he couldn't reach me. When he realized it was no use, he smiled sheepishly.

I then grabbed him and through him into Rover, who was just starting to get back up.

Fido ran over to where his friends were and they look at me in fear.

"This pony's crazy." Spot said while quivering.

"Forget the books, LETS JUST GET OUT OF HERE." Rover yelled as he jumped back into the tunnel were they came out from, with Fido and Spot following.

"AND DON'T COME BACK" I yelled down the tunnel.

I then came out of the store in victory and walked towards the book store salespony.

"Dogs are gone, now about that book." I said with a smirk.

The salespony sighed in annoyance before he went into the store and came back out with the book in his mouth.

He then gave me the book and I gave him the bag of money and then I walked away with the book in my mouth.

Later that evening I returned to the library. I walked in and shut the door; I then sat down and hid the book behind my back.

"Twilight, I'm home and I have something for ya." I yelled hoping Twilight was home.

Twilight then came out from the other room and came up to me. "Matt, I'm so glad your back; I need to ask you something."

"Can I show you what I have first?" I asked.

She sat down in front of me. "What is it?"

"Well, I just wanted to say thanks for being so nice to me since I got here. SO." I then pulled the book from behind my back and showed it to Twilight.

She read the title of the book and gasped. "Matt, I've been trying to get this book for ages, how did you afford it?"

"I got a job working for Applejack and trust me! she pays BIG." I said with a pleased smile.

She picked up the book with her magic and pulled me into a big hug. "Matt, this is so sweet, thank you."

My eyes went wide as she planted a kiss on my cheek. She then went into the next room to read her new book.

I was still sat on the floor, paralyzed by the kiss. I placed a hoof on the cheek she kissed. "Wow" was my only response.

I then walked into the guest room in a daze, laid down on the bed and let myself drift off to sleep.

**Now how was that? There's going to be a dance coming up soon and I think we all know what might happen. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Goodnight everypony **


	6. Chapter 6: Talent and a new friend

**Nothing much to say really but enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 6: Talent and a new friend

After having breakfast with Twilight and Spike. And after delivering the orders for Applejack, I decided to wonder around Ponyville to see what I could spend my money on.

I then came across a large tent, my curiosity got the better of me and I went inside.

When I entered the tent, I couldn't believe what I saw. It was an arcade with all types of video games.

"I didn't know they had one of these." I said to myself in delight.

I walked around and looked at all the games they had. They had the Claw, Air hockey, shooting games and all sorts.

Something then caught my eye, a game called _Attack of the zombie ponies_. I then put the money in the slot and started to play

An hour later, I was still playing until the lights in the tent went dim and a spot light shun on the stage at the front of the tent.

A light blue pony with a black tie then walked on stage and started talking to us.

"Well everypony, it's time for our gaming contest; whoever's interested in participating in our event should wright their name down and put in this box" the announcer said as he pointed to a box with a slot on top of it.

I then wrote my name on a piece of paper and put it in the box.

Afterword's, the announcer pulled four pieces of paper out of the box and called out the names that were written on them.

One of them was mine followed by three more ponies. Another Pegasus only brown, a yellow earth pony and a red unicorn.

"First off are the basketball hoops, whoever gets the highest scoring wins and whoever gets the lowest score will be kick out of the competition. So, ready, set, GO." The announcer said as we started.

In the basketball hoops game there were four rows for us each to stand in, there was a net wall between each one so our balls wouldn't roll away.

I managed to get all my ball's in the net, the Pegasus and the earth pony only got half their ball's in their net's but the unicorn used his magic to get all his ball's in his net.

"Ooh sorry, magic is not allowed. I'm afraid you're disqualified," the announcer said to the unicorn, the unicorn then left the arcade in a depressed way.

"Next up is laser tag, whoever's the first to get hit three." The announcer said as we walked through an entrance leading to another tent only this on was much darker. We were then given plastic chest plates and plastic hand guns, and then the game began.

I was running around the maze-like tent trying to find the other players but I could not find them.

I then heard hoof steps behind me; I spun around to see the brown Pegasus pointing his gun at me. But before he could hit me, I ran behind a wall and he followed me.

When he came around the corner, he couldn't see me. I then jump from behind another wall and shot him in the back.

The brown Pegasus spun around and shot me in the front, I then ran off with him chasing me.

I then hid behind a corner and he ran past me. Ha, the old hide behind a corner and he runs past me trick, classic.

I then saw the yellow earth pony and I shot him from behind. As I did, the earth pony noticed me and shot me.

I then ran away before he could get another chance to do it again.

As I ran, I found the Pegasus and shot him again. I then sprang off with him following me.

There was a moment when I thought I lost him, when he suddenly jumped in front of me pointing his gun at me.

But before he could shoot me, the earth pony ran up behind the Pegasus and shot him, hitting the Pegasus for the third time.

The light's suddenly came on and a light pick mare escorted us back out.

When we got back through to the other tent, the announcer came up to us and looked at the brown Pegasus. "I'm sorry young Pegasus, but I'm afraid you're out of the competition."

The brown Pegasus then left the arcade in disappointment.

It was just me and the yellow earth pony now.

"Ok. Now it's time for the last game of the competition. Air hockey." The announcer said as he guided us to an air hockey table.

The announcer put the puck on the table and we started to play.

We played for a while; we were both at 11 points, and whoever got the next point wins.

We were both hitting the puck like crazy until I gave it one last hit and the puck went into the earth pony's goal.

The earth pony then walked out the arcade, hanging his head.

I had won the competition. "Congratulations young Pegasus, you have beaten all the other competitors and won each round, but now it's time for the special bounce match." The announcer said to me.

"Bounce match?" I thought.

The announcer then pointed to the stage. "Against the one-and-only game champion Analog

A large orange earth pony (about Big Macintosh's size) with an arcade game machine for a cutie mark emerged from behind the curtains.

The announcer then walked on stage. "And one of you lucky ponies will walk away with the grand prize."

He then pulled open another pair of curtains revelling a blue parrot with red and green feathers on its wing and tail in a cage.

"A parrot? We're playing for a parrot?" I thought.

We were then guided to the zombie pony game I was playing before. I guessed this was the last round.

I looked up at Analog. "So, you want the parrot too, huh?" I said with a small smile.

He looked down at me. "No, I just like beating challengers who think they stand a chance against me."

"Well, good luck to you too." I said in a sarcastic tone.

Analog rolled his eyes. "Good luck's for wimps, good luck to you thought."

"Well!" I said under my breath.

The announcer then stud in front of the game. "Ok, this is the last game, whoever gains the highest points wins."

Analog then walked over to the machine and started playing.

An hour later, he was at the last boss fight and everypony was cheering him on. But I didn't last as he finally got a game over.

"WOW, it looks like Analog has beat his own record. The young Pegasus is going to have to do some serious playing to beat that." The announcer said.

I then walked in front of the machine. "LOOK OUT." I yelled as I started playing.

Another hour later, I was on the last boss and I was doing well. Everypony was cheering me on and Analog was bighting his hoof in worry.

I then hit the boss one last time and I won the game, all the ponies burst out cheering.

The announce walked over to me. "Amazing, this young Pegasus has beaten Analog, he is now the new game champion." All the ponies cheered louder.

Analog grunted and stormed out the arcade.

"Here's you prize young pony." The announcer said as he gave me the cage with the parrot inside.

"Well, well, well, it looks like you have two prizes today." The announce said as he pointed to my flank.

I look at my flank to see a cutie mark that looked like a video game controller.

"Oh my god, I have a cutie mark, I can't wait to show Twilight." I said to myself in delight.

I then picked up the cage in my mouth and left the arcade.

While I was walking back to the library, I noticed a pony nailing something to a wall.

I walked over to see what it was and it was an advertisement for something called _The Ponyville Dance_ that's going to happen tomorrow night.

"A dance? Maybe Twilight would like to go with me? I should ask her when I get back to the library." I thought to myself.

I then continued on the road to the library.

When I got there, I walked through the door and shut it behind me. I set the cage down, "Twilight, I'm home." I called out.

Twilight then came down the stairs. "Matt, you've been gone for hours, where've you been?"

"At the arcade, I entered a contest, beat this guy call Analog and won this parrot, which frankly I don't get." I answered.

Twilight's then had a look of surprise on her face. "You beat Analog? He's the best gamer in Ponyville."

I grinned. "WAS, and look what else I got." I then turned to show her my cutie mark.

She then had a small smile on her face "Matt, you have a cutie mark."

"I know, right" I said in excitement but the got serious "Anyway Twilight, I want to ask you something."

"Yeah, me too." She said back.

"Will you go to the dance with me?" We both said at the same time.

Our eyes went wide by the coincidence.

"Sure." I said with a small smile.

Twilight's smile grew large. "REALLY….I mean, really." She said slightly blushing.

I nodded my head. There was a moments silence between us until I broke it.

"Well, I'd best get this guy in my room." I said as I grabbed the cage with my mouth and went upstairs.

I walked through the guest room door and shut it behind me. I then placed the cage on a table.

"Well, that was easier than I thought." I said in a surprised tone.

"Easy yet super awkward." The parrot said to me.

I nodded in agreement. WAIT A MINUTE.

"WHOW, did you just say something?" I asked in shock.

The parrot crossed his wings. "Yeah, what? You've never met a talking parrot before!"

"Errr…no" I said a little calmer.

"Then this is a very special moment, I'm glad I was here to share it with you." He said with a smirk on his face.

I smirked back, "You've got a lot of cheek and I like that. So do you have a name?"

He struck a pose. "Yeah, name's Jeff."

I raised an eyebrow. "Jeff the talking parrot?"

He crossed his wings again. "You got hay in your ears or somethin'?"

"Jeff the _insulting_ talking parrot." I added.

Jeff rolled his eyes "Look, I've been in this cage for 2 days, I'm hungry and I feel cramped. I'm a little on edge right now so if you could just open the cage and let me out! We can start over."

I gave it a deep thought and decided to let him out. I opened the cage and Jeff stepped out and spread his wing out.

I could tell Jeff was more than happy to be out the cage. "Ahh, that feels so much better, I hate being in small spaces. So what's your name?" He said as he stuck out his wing

"Matthew." I answered while shaking his wing with my hoof.

Jeff then smiled. "Nice name. So anyway, thanks for getting me out of that jam back there, who knows what the big orange pony might have done to me."

I smiled back "Well, you're safe with me and you're welcome to stay for as long as you want."

Jeff then flew onto my back. "Thanks dude, you're one cool cat." I smiled at his comment.

I then walked out the guest room door with Jeff on my back. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

**I know, this chapter might be lame. But I promise you that the next chapter will be much better because it's the dance. Hope you enjoyed it though.**

**Goodnight everypony.**


	7. Chapter 7: The dance

**Well, according to my readers the last chapter went better than I thought, I'm glad everypony liked it, in the song I'm using in this chapter I had the change some of the lyrics so they'd fit the story.**

**So here's the next chapter**

Chapter 7: The dance

Tonight was the big night of the Ponyville dance and everypony was running around all over preparing for it.

Some ponies were preparing the town square, which is where the dance is being held. They were hanging up lanterns, getting the stereos plugged in and preparing tables.

Twilight was at Rarity's Boutique with Pinkie Pie trying to find the perfect dress for the dance.

"I knew you could do it, I knew you could ask him." Rarity cheered as she measured Twilight's hind-legs.

Twilight turned her head to face her. "Well, he asked too, at the same time."

Rarity's smile grew. "Oh, it's destiny. I knew he was the colt for you."

Twilight turned her head away and let a small smile on her face. "I know, we've been getting closer every day. I just hope I don't do anything to embarrass him or me at the dance."

Pinkie Pie came up to them. "Yeah, like if you step on his hoof or you forget the dance moves. Ooh, or if you step on his Hoof twice-" Pinkie was cut off by Rarity sticking her hoof in her mouth.

"That's not really helpful Pinkie." Rarity said as she removed her hoof from Pinkies mouth.

Rarity could see that Twilight was really nervous about tonight. She walked up to Twilight and placed a hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry dear; I'm sure everything will be fine. I'm going to make you a dress so fabulous that it'll make him faint on sight of you." Rarity said in a confident tone.

Twilight gave her a sweet smile. "Thanks Rarity, I really appreciate this."

Rarity waved a hoof. "Don't mention it darling, anything for romance."

**Streets of Ponyville**

I was making my deliveries with Jeff on my back; I was so lost in thought about tonight that I wasn't even listening to Jeff talking about his life before he was captured.

"And that's when I learned not to wash in a bird bath when the waters yellow and to top it off…..Matt? Are ya even listenin'?" Jeff said as he flew up on top of my head and tapped it with his foot.

I snapped out of my train of thought. "What?...oh yeah…yellow water. Very interesting."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Dude, you seriously need to chillax. You got this, you're gonna go there, dance with Twilight and HAVE FUN."

"But what if something go's wrong?" I said in a worried tone.

Jeff then hovered in front of my face. "Nothin' will go wrong as long as you keep focused and don't screw up."

"Okay, I'll try. I just want this night to be perfect for her." I said slightly calmer.

Jeff flew back onto my head. "Atta pony. Now, there's a few things you have to do before you go."

I raised an eye brow. "Like what."

"Well first off. Bathe, you smell like somepony dragged you out of a pile of garbage and then threw you back in. and second. Outfits, we need to get you something that says _I'm a love pony_."

I let out a small sigh. "Okay, I'll go to Rarity's Boutique after I'm finished this job."

Jeff crossed his wings. "Aaaaand."

"And bathe." I said in an annoyed tone.

"Tonight's gonna rock, bro." Jeff yelled

After work, we reached the Boutique. When we entered it, we saw Rarity drawing new dress designs.

"Hey Rarity." I called out.

Rarity turned to see us and came up to us. "Hello Matt, what brings you here? Shouldn't you be getting ready for tonight?"

I walked passed her and looked around the store. "Yeah, but I don't have anything to wear. Can you make me something?" I asked.

Rarity's eyes twinkled at the opportunity. "Oh, I have just the thing. You are going to look smashing."

She then lifted a folded suit with her magic and pushed me behind some curtains with her following behind.

Behind the curtains, she started forcing the outfit on me.

"OW, careful. Ah too tight, too tight. HaHa stop it that tickles." I yelled from behind the curtains.

Rarity walked out and opened the curtains, letting me see myself in the light.

I looked down to see I was wearing a black tuxedo with a white under shirt and a black bow tie.

Rarity's smile grew as she pushed a mirror in front of me. "Now what did I tell you? Smashing Right?"

I had to admit, I looked pretty damn good.

"Yeah I like it, thanks Rarity. So how much is it?" I asked still looking at myself in the mirror.

Rarity waved her hoof. "Darling, for you it's free."

I was surprised by this and turned to her. "Really? Why?"

"Because, you're my new friend and I just know you'll show Twilight a good time." Rarity said with a small smile.

I smiled back. "Thanks Rarity, I will."

Jeff then flew in front of Rarity. "So, you got anything for me sunshine?"

Rarity tapped he chin. "I think I have an idea." Her horn then glowed and she made a small bow tie out of black fabric and tied it around Jeff's neck.

Jeff looked in the mirror and frowned. "That's….great."

Me and Rarity both laughed at his comment.

**That night: at the dance**

I walked into the town square with Jeff and Spike on my back. Spike was wearing a black tuxedo as well.

Jeff and Spike got off my back and I looked around for Twilight but I couldn't see her.

"Where is she? I hope she's alright." I said in a worried tone.

Spike patted my shoulder. "Don't worry; she said she'd be here."

A few minutes later, I saw Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash walk into the town square.

I walked up to them hoping to see Twilight but I still couldn't see her.

Rarity then came up beside me, "Matthew, may I present….your date."

With that, Rainbow Dash and Applejack stepped apart, revealing Twilight in a dark purple glittery dress with a diamond necklace.

My jaw dropped at the sight of her and Rarity closed it with her hoof.

Twilight walked up to me. "Twilight…..wow….you look…..wow," I said with my eyes wide.

She blushed slightly and gave me a sweet smile. "Thanks, you don't look bad yourself."

I blushed myself and looked down at my suit, "Thanks, so would you like to dance."

"Not yet. First, I want to introduce you to someone close to me." She said as she walked passed me with me following.

We walked to the other side of the spare and my eyes widened at what I saw.

It was Princess Celestia sitting on some sort of throne with two of her guards at each side.

Once she noticed us, she got up and walked up to us. "Twilight. It's good to see you. And this must be the famous Matthew you told me about."

I quickly bowed down. "Yes your majesty, it is an honour to meet you." I said as plight as I could.

She raised a hoof. "The honour is all mine, I was hoping Twilight would find a colt she'd like. So Matt, how did you come to Ponyville?"

I then stood back up. "Well, I just…..decided to drop in." literally.

Celestia gave me a warm smile. "Ok then. Now, you two go on; I don't want to keep you away from the dance floor."

With that, me and Twilight walked into the middle of the town square and started dancing together.

We danced for an hour and we were really enjoying it until we heard somepony tap the mike, we turn to see DJ-Pon3 holding a microphone to her mouth.

"Ok everypony, were going to slow things down a bit so grab that special somepony and pull them in close, REAL close." She said as she pressed a button on the stereo.

Slow dance music then started to play. Me and Twilight looked deep in each other's eyes as we got closer to each other and slowly started moving back and forth.

Twilight then got closer to me, laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes.

At first, I was surprised by her actions but then smiled down at her and closed my eyes as we continued dancing.

Another hour had passed and we wear still dancing. Rarity then leaned over to Applejack and started whispering to her. "I think I have a way to make things go faster."

Applejack raised an eye brow "How?"

Rarity then pulled Applejack and the others closer to her and started whispering to them.

A minute late, they all got on stage, each standing next to a microphone on a stand and Pinkie whispered something to DJ, who then pressed another button on the stereo and the music changed.

Me and Twilight noticed the change and looked up to see our friends on stage preparing to sing.

**All: "**_Kiss the girl (kiss the girl)_

**Rarity: "**_There you see her_

_Sitting there across the way_

_She don't got a lot to say_

_But there's something about her_

_And ya don't know why _

_But cha dyin' to try you wanna_

_Kiss the girl_

**Rarity and Applejack:**_ Yes you want her_

**Rarity: **_look at her ya know ya do_

**Rarity and Fluttershy: **_It's possible she wants ya too_

_There is one way to ask her_

**Rarity: **_It don't take a word_

_Not a single word_

**All: **_go on and_

_Kiss the girl (kiss the girl)_

**Rarity: **_Shalalalala_

_My oh my_

_Looks like the boys to shy_

_Ain't gonna kiss the girl_

_Shalalalala_

_Ain't that sad_

_It's such a shame too bad_

_You're gonna miss the girl_

_Go on and_

_Kiss the girl (kiss the girl)"_

Me and Twilight looked deep in each other's eyes and stated dancing to the music.

**Rarity: **_Now's your moment _

**Rarity and Rainbow Dash: **_Dancing underneath the moon_

_Boy you better do it soon_

_No time will be better_

**Rarity: **_She don't say a word_

_And she won't say a word until you_

_Kiss the girl (kiss the girl)_

_Shalalalala_

_My oh my_

_Looks like the boy's too shy_

_Ain't gonna kiss the girl_

_Shalalalala_

_Ain't that sad_

_It's such a shame too bad_

_You're gonna miss the girl_

_Shalalalala_

_Don't be scared_

_You better be prepared_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

_Shalalalala_

_Don't stop now_

_Don't try to hide it how_

_You wanna kiss the girl_

_Go on and kiss the girl (kiss the girl)"_

As the others kept singing, our eyes never left each other. I felt strange, like I was being pulled closer to her and I notice that she was getting closer to me.

**All: **_go on and_

**Rarity: **_kiss the girl_

_Shalalalala_

_My oh my _

_Looks like the boys too shy_

_Ain't gonna _

**Rarity and Fluttershy: **_Kiss the girl_

**Rarity: **_Shalalalala _

_Ain't that sad _

_It's such a shame too bad_

**Rainbow Dash:**_ Ya gonna miss the girl_

**All: **_Lala-la-la, Lala-la-la_

**Rarity: **_Go on and kiss the girl_

**Pinkie Pie: **_Go on and kiss that girl_

**All:**_ Lalalala, Lalalala_

_Go on and kiss the girl_

**Rarity:**_ Go on and kiss the girl_

_Kiss the girl_

_Go on and kiss the girl"_

The crowd burst out into cheers except for me and Twilight. As we were getting closer to each other, we closed our eyes and got ready to feel each other's kiss

Just as our lips were about to connect, our eyes shot open to see everypony was looking at us.

"Maybe, we should take this somewhere more private?" Twilight whispered to me.

I nodded and we both walked off into Ponyville.

"I don't think that worked." Applejack said.

Rarity waved a hoof. "Of course it did, they just want a little privacy and we owe it to them to let them have it.

They all nodded in agreement and watch us walk away until we were out of sight.

**Outside Ponyville**

After a long walk, me and Twilight were outside of Ponyville looking for a place to sit down. We soon found a bench next to a tree and sat down on it.

As we sat in silence, we tried to avoid eye contact. But it didn't last long as we turned to face each other.

As we stared deep in each other's eyes, we leaned closer and closed our eyes. Until finally, our lips met in a passionate kiss.

We kissed for a few minutes then we broke the kiss and smiled at each other.

"Matt, this has been the best night of my life." Twilight said sweetly as she laid herself on my side with her head on my shoulder.

I smiled down at her and rapped my hoof around her, "Mine too" I replied.

And we enjoyed each other's comfort as we gazed at the big moon in front of us.

**That took a while to type. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**The song is the Ashley Tisdale version of Kiss the girl from the little mermaid. I do not own any of them**

**Next chapter will be up soon, Goodnight everypony.**


	8. Chapter 8: Called to Canterlot

**I'm so glad everypony liked the last chapter; I did put a lot of effort into it, again thanks.**

**So here's the next chapter.**

Chapter 8: Called to Canterlot

It's been 3 days since the dance and me and Twilight are now officially dating.

Twilight has become more confident with her passionate side, as have I.

While our relationship was growing, Jeff and Spike have been hanging out more including Spike's pet phoenix Peewee, who can also talk now, thanks to Jeff.

It was a calm morning; I entered the kitchen to see Spike, Jeff and Peewee eating breakfast.

"Mornin' guys, where's Twilight?" I asked as I sat down at the table.

Spike looked up from his food. "Still upstairs. Why? Missing your girlfriend already?" they all snickered.

I was about to say something when Twilight walked into the kitchen. "Morning handsome." She said as she kissed my cheek.

"Mornin' gorgeous." I said as I kissed her back.

Spike poked a finger in his mouth with a look of discussed on his face.

As Twilight walked over to the fridge, Jeff came up next to me. "Well, I can see you two are getting along well. Next thing we know, we'll be hearing wedding bells and the sound of little hooves running around." He said with a smirk.

I turned my head to face him, "Whow slow down Jeff, we just started dating a few days ago."

Jeff crossed his wings. "Yeah I know, you kept me up all night after the dance telling me about how _magical _it was."

I rolled my eyes "Look, we've agreed to take this relationship slow and that's what we're going to do." I then turned away from him and took a sip of my drink.

There was a moment's silence, until we heard a sound. It sounded like someone was about to throw up.

"Guy's, I think there's something wrong with Spike." Peewee said in a concerned tone.

We looked over to Spike to see that his cheeks were inflated and he was holding his stomach. "I think he's gonna be sick. Quick, somepony get a bucket!" Jeff said.

I then got up and walked behind Spike. "Wait a second." I raised my left hoof and slapped Spike on the back.

Spike let out a large burp and fire came out his mouth along with a scroll.

"A letter from the princess?" Twilight said as she picked up to scroll and unravelled it with her magic. She then read what the letter said.

"It's for you Matt" she said as she hovered the scroll in front of me, the letter said.

_Dear Matthew_

_I would like you to see me in the throne room at Canterlot castle as soon as possible; I need to talk to you alone._

_Princess Celestia._

I then looked pass the letter to see Twilight. "The princess says she wants to talk to me alone."

Twilight got a concerned look on her face. "What for?"

"It doesn't say, but I'm about to find out." I then headed towards the front door with Twilight following.

"Are you sure you want to go alone?" she asked with a worried tone.

I turned to face her. "She said I had to. Don't worry Twi, I'll be back as soon as I can." I then gave Twilight a small kiss on the lips. I walked out the door and took off towards Canterlot.

**Canterlot**

It was a long flight, but I finally landed in the middle of Canterlot and started making my way towards the castle.

It was amazing; everywhere I looked there were high class ponies, fancy shops and massive buildings.

I was so caught up in the sights that I didn't see where I was going and bumped into a high class pony.

I shook my head out of its daze and looked at who I bumped into. "Oh sorry, I didn't see you."

The class pony brushed the dust of herself. "I say, it's rude to not watch were you going." She said in a posh tone.

I raised an eye brow. "Hey, I said I was sorry."

She then looked up and down my body. "Yes, I heard you the first time. Now if you'll excuse me, I can't waste my time talking to a Pegasus of….your class."

I gave her a slight glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She then started pointing at different parts of my body and criticizing them. "Well first off. Your mane is atrocious, have you ever heard of a comb? I can tell you didn't bathe this morning, you smell foul. And just look at your cutie mark. I mean, what is it anyway? Some sort of device? Well whatever it is, I just know it's not civilized.

She then walked passed me with her nose in the air and I continued walking towards the castle. "Yeah well, at least I don't waste my fortune betting on Wonderbolt races. Yeah, that's what I should've said." I mumbled under my breath.

I finally reached the castle and I walked up to the front doors but was stopped by a royal guard's wing.

"I'm afraid you can't go in there sir" the guard said a deep voice.

"The princess asked me to see her" I said as I showed him the letter. "Very well, follow me." He said as he opened the doors and walked inside with me following.

We walked down a large hall way with a lot of things in it, portraits of past rulers, priceless vases and there was even a bust of Celestia's head.

The guard open the big double doors leading to the throne room. Inside was a large room with large windows and at the end of the room was Princess Celestia sitting on her throne.

The guard stepped forward. "Your majesty, I believe you summoned this young Pegasus."

She looked down at me. "Yes thank you, you may go now guard."

With that the guard walked out the doors and shut them behind him.

I turned to face the princess only to be surprised to see her right in front of me. "WHOW, how'd you do that?"

She lowered her head down to my level. "There's alot of things I can do and a lot of thing that I know, secret things."

I raided an eye brow. "Like what?" I was becoming nervous.

"I know what you are Matt, I know where your truly from." She said in a serious tone.

Oh no. "How do you know?" I asked in a nervous tone.

She gave me a sweet smile. "I've always know. And I must say, you have been doing well for yourself since you came to Equestria, especially towards Twilight."

I then frowned and lowered my head. "I…..I'm sorry, I didn't mean to lie to her, I just wanted everypony to like me and I thought-"

I was cut off by Celestia. "You thought that if everypony knew that you're not a pony they wouldn't like you."

My head shot up to her. "YES, that's exactly it. But, now I feel bad about doing it, I don't know what to do."

"You can tell her the truth!" she said in her sweet voice.

"But what if she resents me for lying, she'll dump me and kick me out the library, I don't want to lose her." I said in a worried tone.

Celestia placed a hoof on my shoulder. "Twilight is an understanding and caring pony, I doubt she would do something like that, especially to the only colt she's ever liked."

I still frowned. "I just want her to know that I truly care about her and I'm willing to do anything to make her happy, I'd even give up my old life to be with her." I lowered my head again.

Celestia raised an eye brow. "Really? Don't you want to return to your family back on your home world?

"Well…..I'm not saying I don't love them. But back home I had nothing, no friends, no job, no girlfriend, nothing. But here I have all those things and….I want to keep them." I said calmly.

Celestia then went into deep thought and then smiled, "Matt, I'm going to make you a deal but you have to promise that whichever choice you make, Twilight will know the truth by the end of the day." I nodded in agreement.

"Matt, you have two choices. You can ether say your goodbyes to all your friends and return to your home world. Or become a pony permanently and stay here with Twilight. If you choose to stay as a pony, you can never be a human again." She said in a calm voice.

What do I do? Can I just leave my family just like that? I want to stay with Twilight but I don't want to hurt my family. Well….back home I was going to leave home eventually, guess it's going to happen sooner than we thought.

"I choose to stay here with Twilight." I said

"Very well." Celestia said as her horn began to glow yellow. Suddenly I started to glow yellow and with a white flash, the glow disappeared.

"There, you are now a pony permanently." Celestia said

As I look at my body I couldn't help but think of my family. "I will miss them. But, I'm better here and I have to move on." I thought with a small tear in my eye.

I forced a small smile on my face "Thank you princess, I'll tell Twilight the truth. But, first I need a moment to myself." I then walked out the throne room.

"Or maybe, you don't have to." Celestia said as her horn started glowing again and she disappeared in a flash.

**Ponyville: Park**

I was next to the fountain looking in the water, thinking about what to do next.

"Well that's it; I can never be a human again. If Twilight kicks me out, I'm right back where I started." I said to myself.

"Well, I wouldn't blame her if she did." Said a familiar voice.

"Who said that?" I said as I looked around. "Down here genius." Said the voice.

I looked down to see my reflection in the water with an angry look on his face.

I raised an eye brow. "Now, I KNOW you didn't say that"

"Yes I did, I'm your conscience and don't you think this lie has gone on long enough?" my conscience said.

"Yes, but how do I tell her. I mean, I can't just walk into the library and say _Hey Twilight, just want you to know I'm not a real pony and I've been lying to you since we met." _I said in a frustrated tone.

"Look Matt; like the princess said, Twilight is an understanding and caring pony. I'm sure she'll forgive you." My conscience said in a calm voice.

I let out a big sigh. "Yeah, your right. I'll go and tell her now….hello?" I looked down to see that my reflection was following my actions again. Guess that means he's gone.

I then headed off back to Ponyville.

**Library**

I walked up to the front door and took a deep breath. "Here go's"

I walked through the door, shut it behind me and looked around for Twilight.

"Twilight, I'm home. Listen, there's something I need to tell you." I called out.

I walked into the next room, not only did I find Twilight but I saw Celestia next to her.

"Twilight, what's the princess doing here?" I asked nervously.

Twilight turned to Celestia. "Go on, tell him" Celestia said.

Twilight then walked up to me with a small smile on her face. "I know Matt, I know everything now." She said sweetly.

My eyes widened and I was silence for a moment, my ears then lowered. "Twilight, I'm so sorry for lying. I just wanted everypony to like me and I didn't think anypony would-" my sentence was stopped by Twilight placing her hoof on my mouth.

Twilight then gave me a warm smile. "Matt, I don't care what you use to be. I just care that you're you." She then took her hoof off my mouth.

"So, you're not mad that I lied about myself?" I asked calmly.

"No, I'm sure if I was in your position I'd make up stuff too." Her smile grew and all the presser was taken off me.

"But, I do have one question. You gave up you old life to stay here, why?" Twilight asked.

I moved closer to her. "I'd give up a hundred lives if it meant being with you."

Twilight then started to get tears in her eyes; I saw this and gently wiped them with my hoof.

I then smiled. "And hey, it's not like your dating a different species of something. I mean, I am a real pony now so it's ok."

"I know…..Hey Matt, can I ask you something." She asked.

I tilted my head. "What is it?"

"I don't know what a human is or what their worlds like, can you tell me sometime." She asked with a smile.

I smiled back. "Sure I can, but you have to promise me somethin'!"

"What is it?" she asked curiously.

I then had a serious look on my face. "You have to promise you won't treat me any different than how you've been treating me since I got here.

She gave me a warm smile "Deal" we then shared a warm hug and Celestia smiled at the sight. "Well, I'll leave you two alone." With that, her horn glowed and she disappeared in a flash.

I walked Twilight to bed and said goodnight to her. But as I was about to go in my room, I heard a noise behind me.

I turned to see Twilight shivering slightly "Are you ok Twi?"

She looked at me. "It's cold tonight. Matt, feel free to say no but do you mind…..sleeping next to me tonight. You know, to keep me warm." She blushed slightly.

I blushed as well. "Errr, no, Not at all.

She then budged over to make room on the bed and I climbed in with her. Twilight then nuzzled up to me and laid her head on my chest. "Goodnight Matt."

I smiled and wrapped my hoof around her "Goodnight Twi." We then fell asleep in each other's warmth.

**There you go, Twilight knows now and she's alright with it. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and next one will be up soon.**

**Goodnight everypony.**


	9. Chapter 9: Bad kitty bug bat thing

**I'm glad so many people are enjoying my story so far,**

Chapter 9: Bad kitty-bug-bat-thing

As the sun rose in Ponyville, I was starting to wake up. I rolled over on the bed and felt something.

I opened my eyes to see Twilight right in front of me. She was asleep, but her nose was touching mine.

I slowly moved of the bed, trying not to wake her. As it turned around, Jeff appeared in front of me with his wings crossed and a smirk on his face.

"Ok, I know what you're thinkin' and this isn't what it looks like" I quickly said.

"Oh really, looks to me like you slept with Twilight last night." Jeff said with his smirk growing bigger.

"Nothing happened last night; she was cold and she wanted me to keep her warm, that it." I said as I was getting embarrassed.

"Is that what she told you?" he asked still smirking.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever dude, I know what happened." I then walked passed him and went down stairs.

"Well, somepony woke up on the wrong side of the love bed." Jeff said as he followed me.

**That afternoon: The Ponyville market**

Me, Twilight, Spike and Jeff where in the market shopping for fruit and vegetables, Peewee decided to stay at home today. I (being a gentlecolt) offered to carry all the bags.

I had two in my mouth, and two in each side of my saddlebags, not to mention Jeff and Peewee were on my back. They were heavy but I wasn't going to make Twilight carry anything, it was my way of saying thanks for understanding my situation yesterday.

As we were walking. We saw Fluttershy and Applejack selling apples up ahead, so we walked over to them.

When we reached them. Applejack waved her hoof "Howdy Twilight, Matt. What's crackin'?"

I spat the bags out my mouth. "Well right now, my spine." I said as I struggled to stand.

Twilight turned to me. "Are you sure you don't want me to carry anything?" she had a sound of concern in her voice.

I waved a hoof. "No no, I've got them. No girlfriend of mine is going to bust her back."

She put a hoof on my shoulder. "Matt, that's sweet of you. But, I won't bust my back because I can just levitate the bags with my magic. Plus, if I don't the only one who'll bust their back is you."

I didn't have time to say anything as my strength gave in and I collapsed to the ground.

Twilight then detached the saddlebags off of me and helped me back up.

"So, what can I do ya for?" Applejack said.

"We're just buying apples, how much is a full bag?" I asked.

She pulled a bag of apples out of her wagon. "3 bits." She answered.

I got the money out my saddlebag and gave it to her and she gave me the bag.

Fluttershy then walked up to Twilight. "So, do you have any plans for tonight?" she asked

"What kind of plans?" Twilight asked as she titled her head.

Applejack then joins up with them. "Ya know, special plan with a certain somepony."

Twilight suddenly got what they were saying. "Oh, no not tonight. But tomorrow night we're going out for a dinner date." She said with a smile.

"Oh, that's wonderful and so romantic. I wish I had somepony like that." Fluttershy said.

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, we could all do with somepony in our lives."

"Don't worry girls, you'll find your colts eventually. I mean, I use to think I wouldn't find somepony until I met Matt." Twilight said with a sweet smile.

Applejack and Fluttershy smiled and nodded.

Suddenly, we all heard a girl scream. I turned my head to face Jeff on my back. "Jeff, what's wrong."

He glared down at me. "Dude that wasn't me."

Suddenly, ponies started running passed us in fear. I looked in the direction they were running from and my eyes widened at what I saw.

A manticore with glowing red eyes was rampaging through the streets.

"Is that a manticore? But I thought they only stayed in the Ever Free Forest. What's one doing here?" I asked in a shocked tone.

Twilight turned to me. "I don't know, but its terrorising Ponyville. Fluttershy, go see if you can calm it down."

Fluttershy nodded and flew towards the manticore. Once she reached it, she started talking to it.

"Now now, calm down little pussy cat. It's alright, I won't hurt-OHF." Fluttershy was interrupted as the manticore whacked her with its paw, sending her crashing to the ground.

"FLUTTERSHY." We all screamed out.

Fluttershy slowly leaned up and froze in fear as she saw the manticore about to slam its paw down on her.

"Oh no you don't you miss matched sack of crap." I yelled as I flew off towards the manticore, picking up more and more speed with every flap.

And before the manticore could slam down on Fluttershy, I punched my hoof into its jaw, making it stumble back slightly.

I turned to Fluttershy. "Are you okay." I asked as I helped her up.

"Yeah. I'm fine, thank you. But why couldn't I calm it down?" she asked me.

"I don't know, but there'll be time to wonder later. Right now you and the others have to get out of here." I said as I turned to face the manticore, who was getting back up.

"What about you?" she asked in a concerned voice.

I turned my head to face her. "I'll hold it off, now go." With that, Fluttershy galloped towards Twilight and the others.

When Fluttershy reached them, Twilight had a worried look on her face. "What's Matt doing?"

Fluttershy looked at her. "He said he would buy us time and hold off the manticore."

Twilight's eyes widened. "HE'S WHAT?" she screamed.

Twilight turned to Applejack. "We have to help him; he can't fight that thing on his own." Applejack then nodded in agreement.

"Come on ya'll, he needs our help." Applejack said as she turned to the others and then ran towards me with Twilight following.

Spike and Jeff looked at each other. "Let's kick some manticore butt." Jeff said before he flew off toward the fight with Spike following.

As the manticore slowly approached me, I was preparing to fight when Twilight and the others appeared beside me. "I thought I told you to run."

Twilight turned her head to me. "You're not doing this alone Matt."

"Yeah, if you're fightin' then we're with ya all the way." Applejack said with a confident smile.

I gave them a loving smile for this, I've never had friend that stuck by me like this. I'm so lucky to have them by my side.

The moment was ruined by the manticore letting out a loud roar as it charged towards us. We then charged towards it.

As we were getting closer to the manticore. It raised its front paws in the air and as it was about to slam them down on us, the others split apart from me and I rolled between its back legs.

The manticore spun around, grabbed me by surprise and held me up; it formed a fist with its other paw. But before it could punch me a watermelon slatted in its face.

Spike was throwing watermelons in the air and Applejack was bucking them with her hind-legs.

Two more watermelons hit its face, forcing it to lose its grip on me and I fell to the ground.

The manticore roared and charged towards Applejack and Spike. With a flash of light, Twilight appeared between Applejack and Spike, her horn then glowed and they all disappeared in a flash. Causing the manticore to crash into a house.

With a flash, Twilight, Applejack and Spike reappeared beside me.

The manticore shook the dust of its face and spun around to face us. It then charged at us again.

"Everypony scatter." I yelled before we split up around the manticore.

The manticore stopped charging and looked in different directions, trying to see which one of us would charge at it first.

The manticore then felt something at its back leg; it turned it head to see Fluttershy kicking its back leg. She saw it give her a fearsome growl and she let out a small scream, galloped off and hid behind Applejack's wagon while covering her eyes with her hooves.

The manticore walked up to the wagon, grabbed it and threw in the air. The wagon landed on a roof of a nearby house and dangled off it slightly.

The manticore raised one of its paws and formed a fist. But before it could throw it down on Fluttershy, Jeff landed on its nose, bit down on its whiskers and yanked them out.

The manticore roared out in pain and whacked Jeff off its nose, Jeff then crashed to the ground next to Fluttershy.

I then saw the wagon on the roof and got a crazy idea. I galloped up to the house and positioned myself under the wagon.

As the manticore was about to hit Fluttershy and Jeff, I picked up a rock and threw it at the manticore.

The rock hit it on the back of the head, it spun around to face me. "COME ON." I yelled encouraging it to come at me.

The manticore then charged towards me, I waited until the perfect moment before I jumped out the way, causing it to crash into the house. The vibrations on the house caused the wagon to fall off the roof and hit the manticore right on the head, knocking it unconscious.

I slowly approached the manticore and it started to wake up. I was about to get ready to fight again until I looked at its eyes.

Its eyes weren't glowing red anymore; they were back to its normal eyes. It then started looking around as if it didn't know where it was.

Twilight and the others then came up beside me. "What's it doing?" Spike asked.

I didn't take my sight of the manticore. "I don't know…..Fluttershy, it looks a little calmer now, see if you can talk to it!" with that, Fluttershy walked up to the manticore and started stroking it.

"There's a good kitty. Did that big mean wagon hurt your little head." She said in a sweet voice, the manticore then started purring. This was getting stranger by the second.

Afterwards, Fluttershy was taking the manticore back towards the Ever Free Forest.

Me and Twilight turned to each other, "I don't get it, why did Fluttershy's skills work now when they didn't work before? And what was with the glowing red eyes? I mean what was wrong with it?" I asked.

"It was under mind control." A familiar voice said behind us.

We turned around to see Celestia with a serious look on her face.

"Mind control? You mean somepony was controlling that thing?" I said

She nodded. "Yes, but that's just it; nopony, not even I can cast a mind control spell that powerful. So the question is….who could?" she said with a serious look.

Me and Twilight looked at each other in wonder.

**Meanwhile: Far away dark mountains**

Four silhouetted alicorn figures with glowing red eyes were watching us in a large green pool.

"Grrrr, they made me lose control of that beast. I can't believe it." A male voice said.

"How could you have lost that battle? You were up against small ponies." A female voice said.

"It was that Pegasus, he interfered with our plan. He must be punished." A second male voice said in an angry tone.

"Calm yourselves, he will perish just like everypony else, but remember our real target." A third deep male voice said.

"Yes, soon we shall strike and have our revenge." The female voice said.

"But what about those ponies? We can't proceed with them interfering, we have to find a way to keep them out of the way!" the first male voice said.

"Allow me to take care of them; they won't stand a chance against me." The second male voice said.

"NO, we cannot reveal ourselves just yet, but maybe we don't have to be the ones to distract them. I have somepony in mind who can keep them occupied, somepony tricky, deceitful…..and very cruel." The third deep voice said as he gave an evil grin.

**Now how was that? Something's going down in Equestria.**

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and next chapter will be up soon.**

**Goodnight everypony.**


	10. Chapter 10: Dinner date and a return

**Welcome back Bronies and I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 10: Dinner date and an evil return

It was a peaceful sunny day in Ponyville and I was walking through the streets with Jeff on my back as I was looking for the perfect restaurant for my dinner date with Twilight tonight.

As I was walking around, other ponies kept looking at me and started whispering to each other. I was worried that it had something to do with me fighting that manticore yesterday.

I then saw Rainbow Dash up ahead; she noticed me and zoomed right up to my face. "Matt, is it true?" she asked in an excited tone.

I raid an eye brow nervously. "Is what true?"

"That you and the others fought off a manticore yesterday." Her smile grew bigger.

"Is that why everypony's looking at me like they are doing?" I asked.

"Yeah." She said in an even more excited tone

"Then yes, we did." I asked nervously.

She threw herself back in the air. "Oh yeah, I knew it. That is so awesome. How did you do it? Did it fight back? How big was it? Come on, give me the dete's!"

"I made a wagon fall on its head, yes it did fight back and it was the size as a regular manticore." I answered in order.

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. "Is that all? I would have easily sent it crying back to its manticore mommy." She said as she was punching the air.

I rolled my eyes. "I bet you could but it wasn't its fault, the princess said its mind was being controlled by some mysterious source and that it takes a power far greater than her's to control the mind of something like a manticore. Doesn't that worry you?"

She tapped her chin. "Hmmm…no." with that she took off into the sky's

I shook my head and then kept on walking. "Don't worry Matt; the bad stuff is over now. We don't have to worry about something like a mind controlled manticore for a while." Jeff said with a sound of confidence in his voice.

I turned my head to face him. "I know Jeff, but it just has me on edge. I mean, what if they send something other than a manticore next time? Like Cerberus or a dragon."

Jeff flew off my back and I stopped as he landed in front of me. "I don't know, but that's not important right now; what is important is gettin' everything ready for your date with Twilight tonight." He said.

I let out a small sigh. "Your right Jeff, I have to calm down and relax; for Twilight's sake."

Jeff nodded and flew back onto my back and I started walking again.

After a while of searching, I finally found a nice looking restaurant. I walked inside to see the place packed with ponies.

I walked up to the register to see a tall pony with a mall thin mustache and a combed mane standing behind it.

"Welcome monsieur, may I help you?" he said in a French like ascent.

I gave him a small smile. "Yes, I would like to book a table for two tonight at nine 'o'clock please."

He then looked into the register, I was afraid that they would be all booked up tonight.

"We have a few tables' open tonight at that time, what type of table would you like monsieur?" he asked.

I smiled as my worry's faded. "Hmmm, what's the most romantic table you have?" I asked.

He looked down at me and then walked around the register table. "Follow me!" he said as he walked passed me with me following.

We walked through the restaurant until we came upon a pair of double doors, the French pony then opened the doors revealing a large beautiful garden.

In the middle of the garden was a gazebo with a single table in the middle. It was perfect.

"Spunky." Jeff exclaimed

"How much is it." I asked.

The French pony looked at me. "For that table, 100 bits"

It's my lucky day. I reached into my saddleback and pulled out a bag of money, I then gave him the bag.

"Will that be all monsieur?" he asked me

"Just one more thing, how much is it for somepony to play romantic music to us?" I asked with a smile.

"That would be 56 bits." He answered.

I reached into my saddlebag but I couldn't find any more bags of money. Damn, how could I be out of money already?

I turned to him. "Looks like I'll have to do without the music." I said in a disappointed tone.

"Very well, we shall hold this table for you until you return tonight." He said as we both walked back into the restaurant.

I walked out the front door of the restaurant with a small frown on my face.

"Aw man, my plan is ruined." I said. Jeff then flew off my back and started hovering next to me.

"Do you really need music on your date?" he asked.

I stopped walking and turned my head to face him. "Yes Jeff, everypony knows that the three most important things about dinner dates are a good table, a beautiful view and beautiful music in the background. I have two of those and I can't get the last one."

Jeff then landed in front of me. "If you're so desperate for music why don't you just ask me?"

I raised an eye brow at him. "You want to play music on my date?"

He nodded. "Yeah dude, I know how to set the mood."

"Oh really?" I said with a smirk.

Jeff smirked back "Yeah and if I don't play good, I'll stop riding on your back for a week."

"Deal." I said as I shook his wing with my hoof.

Jeff then got on my back and I set off towards the library.

**That night 9 'o' clock: the restraint**

Me and Twilight entered the restaurant and walked up to the register to find the French pony behind it.

The French pony recognized me and walked from behind the register. "Welcome back monsieur and this must be your date. Please follow me."

We then followed him through the restaurant and he opened the double doors revealing the beautiful garden.

Twilight gasped at the beauty that she was seeing in front of her. "Surprise." I said with a smile.

We then walked into the gazebo and I pulled the chair back, allowing Twilight to sit down on it. After I pushed her in, I sat down on the other side of the table.

The French pony then gave us menus. "Would you like to order?"

Twilight looked through the menu and then put it down. "I would like to have the grass and daisy salad please." She said kindly.

The French pony turned to me; I didn't understand much of the food so I just went with an easy option. "Errr…I'll l have the same thing please." I said kindly.

He nodded, took the menus and walked back into the restraint.

Twilight turned to look at me. "Matt, how did you manage to do all this?" She asked with a smile.

I smiled back. "I'll always try my best to get the best for you Twilight and it gets better, I got us somepony to play music for us."

Twilight's smile grew. "Really? Who?"

"Errr…..Jeff." I said as I smiled sheepishly.

She then had a confused look on her face. "Jeff? But Jeff's not even here."

Suddenly, Jeff crashed in the middle of the table. I narrowed my eyes. "Now he's here."

"Sorry about that, we had to rush here." he said as he brushed the dust off his feathers.

"We?" Me and Twilight said at the same time.

Suddenly, Spike fell in the middle of the table.

"Spike? How did you even do that?" Twilight asked in shock.

Spike pulled his head up. "That's not important." He answered.

Spike, who was holding a small guitar and Jeff then got off the table and stood in front of the table with us facing them.

"This song goes out to you two." Jeff said.

He then started to whistle in a rhythm and Spike started playing the guitar softly as Jeff then started to sing.

**Jeff: "**_Wasn't really thinking, wasn't looking, wasn't searching for an answer_

_In the moonlight_

_When I saw your face_

_Saw you looking at me; saw you peeking out from under moon beams_

_Through the palm tree's_

_Swaying in the breeze_

_I know_

_I'm feeling so much more than ever before_

_And so_

_I'm giving more to you_

_Then I thought I could do_

_Don't know how it happened, don't know why, but you don't really need a reason_

_When the stars shine_

_Just to fall in love_

_Made to love each other, made to be together for a life time_

_In the sunshine_

_Flying in the sky_

_I know_

_I'm feeling so much more than ever before_

_And so_

_I'm giving more to you _

_Then I thought I could do"_

As Jeff was whistling again and Spike kept playing his guitar, me and Twilight looked into each other's eyes and smiled as we thought about the words of the song.

**Jeff: "**_Now I know love is real_

_So when sky high_

_As the angels dry_

_Letting you and I_

_Fly love."_

Me and Twilight then clapped both our hooves together as Jeff and Spike did a playful bow.

After a short wait, two waiters came to the table with our orders; they placed the food in front of us. I looked down at the bowl of grass and daisy's, I hesitated at first but then I saw Twilight give me a sweet smile which melted my heart.

Usually I don't like trying new foods, but if it meant making Twilight happy I was willing to do anything.

I slowly lowered my head to the bowl and took a bite out the salad. My eyes then shot open at the taste, "Mmmm….this is good."

Twilight's smile grew "I'm glad you like it."

With that we both went back to our food and enjoyed the rest of the night, Jeff and Spike decided to give us some privacy and then left the restaurant to go back to the library.

After we finished our food and left the restaurant, me and Twilight where on the road back to the library.

Suddenly, I felt a drop of water on my head and then another until it started to rain. Me and Twilight ran to the library as the rain came down heavier and heavier.

When we reached the library, we ran through the door and I shut it behind us. We were both soaked and out of breath.

I looked over to Twilight and my eyes grew slightly, my face burned red as I stared at her wet fur and dripping mane.

She looked over to me with a confused look on her face. "What are you looking at?" she asked.

I snapped back to reality. "Err nothing; I was just wondering…..where are the towels?"

She pointed to the bathroom door. "They should be in the bathroom."

I nodded, "Alright, I'll get them; you get the fire place going." She nodded and walked into the next room.

I then walked into the bathroom and only saw one towel; I grabbed it with my mouth and walked out the bathroom.

As I walked into the next room, I saw Twilight sitting in front of the flames of the fire place, I was stunned by how beautiful she looked in the glow of the fire.

I walked over to her and covered her with the towel and sat next to her. She then noticed I wasn't wearing a towel, "Where's your towel?"

I turned my head to her, "There was only one. It's ok, you can have it, I'm not that cold." I turned my head back to the fire.

She smiled warmly and I felt half the towel wrap around me, I looked to Twilight to see that we were wrapped together in the same towel.

She then nuzzled her head into my shoulder with a smile; I smiled down at her and closed my eyes as we shared each other's warmth.

Spike and Jeff then walked through the door and saw us together; they looked at each other and smiled as they backed out the room.

Twilight looked up to me, "I really enjoyed tonight Matt."

I looked down to her and smiled. "So did I."

We then moved closer until we were locked in a passionate kiss. We then broke the kiss and went back to sharing each other's warmth.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot gardens**

The night was quiet and the guards were patrolling the grounds. Two of them were patrolling the gardens.

Suddenly. Two bolts of fire burst from the ground, one was black and the other was dark purple. The guards put the wings in front of their face to shield them from the heat.

When the flames faded and disappeared, two of the silhouetted alicorns stood in their place.

The guards charged at them, the alicorns horn's then glowed and the guards were sent flying back crashing into the ground, knocking them unconscious.

The alicorns then started walking through the gardens. "Are you sure we can trust him?" the male alicorn said.

The second alicorn turned its head to face the other. "No, but I trust our brothers decision." The female alicorn said.

"Our brother has been a bit paranoid lately, let's hope he knows what he's doing bring this freak into this" the male alicorn said

They continued walking until they came to the goal. "Here he is." The female alicorn said

They both glared their eyes at the sight of _Discord's_ statue with a horrified look still on his face.

The two alicorn's horns glowed and the statue started to glow as well, Discord's statue then started to crack.

It continued to crack until it burst apart and Discord collapsed to the ground, he then started to slowly get up.

"Wha….what happened?" Discord said as he held his head, he looked at the two alicorns. "Who are you?"

"Our names are not important; we have a job for you Discord." The female alicorn said

Discord got up off the ground, crossed his arms and raised an eye brow. "What kind of job?"

"Do you remember the unicorn know as Twilight Sparkle?" the female alicorn asked.

The memories came flooding back to Discord. "Yes, she and her little friends turned me back to stone, I take it this job involves her?"

"Not just her. You see, she has been busy since you've been gone. She has a coltfriend, Matthew I think his name is." The male alicorn said.

Discord stroked his beard. "Really? Weird name, but who's complaining. So what do you want me to do?"

The two alicorns grinned evilly.

**So how did you like that?**

**The song used in the chapter was called **_**Fly love **_**by **_**Jamie Foxx **_**from the animated movie **_**Rio**_**. I don't own anything.**

**Next chapter will be up soon. Goodnight everypony.**


	11. Chapter 11: Meeting chaos

Chapter 11: Meeting chaos 

As the sun rose in Ponyville, I was still asleep in Twilight's bed. As I started to wake up, I felt around the side of the bed for Twilight but I couldn't feel her.

I opened my eyes to see that she wasn't in bed, witch disappointed me.

I got up out of bed and headed down stairs where I saw Twilight reading a book. I walked up behind her and covered her eyes with my hooves. "Guess who?" I said playfully.

Twilight giggled. "Matt, I'm reading something." I removed my hooves from her eyes and she turned around to face me.

My heat melted at the sweet smile she was giving me. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever met Twilight." I said sweetly.

Twilight blushed and came closer to me. "And you're the sweetest, most handsome colt I've ever met." She said sweetly.

We both smiled at each other lovingly before we moved into a passionate kiss.

Jeff then came into the room holding a cup of coffee and a newspaper under his other wing, he then noticed us. "Oh, get a room you two! It's too early"

Me and Twilight broke the kiss and looked at Jeff. "Good morning to you too, grumpy." I said with a smirk.

Jeff just rolled his eyes and walked passed us.

Me and Twilight then moved into another kiss until I felt something hard hit the back of my head, forcing me to pull away from Twilight.

I rubbed the back of my head and looked behind me to see a book lying on the floor. "Jeff, was that really necessary?" I said in an annoyed tone.

He turned to face me. "That wasn't me dude."

I then glared at him. "Well, you're the only one there and I'm pretty shore that it didn't throw itself."

Suddenly, the book case behind Jeff started to shake and a book came flying out of it. It flew towards me and Twilight, we both ducked and the book hit the wall behind us, I looked over to the book. "Then again."

Suddenly, more books started to fly out of all the book cases, with some of them hitting me and Twilight.

We ran to the table, tipped it over and used it as a shield. "What the friv is going on" I yelled.

"I don't know, but we have to stop this before the entire library is turned upside down. If only I could get my _overpowering _spell book." Twilight said.

"What does it look like?" I asked.

"It's the book with three stars on the cover." Twilight answered.

Jeff then flew on top of the table. "You guys have to do somethin' before-." Jeff was interrupted by a book whacking into him and smacking him against the wall.

I looked down to the book to see it had three stars on the cover. "Nice work Jeff."

I picked up the book as Jeff got up from the ground. "Thanks….what'd I do?" he said I a daze.

I gave the book to Twilight and she started flipping through the pages until she stopped. She read the page she was on and her horn started to glow.

And with a bright flash from her horn, the books stopped in mid-air before they all fell to the ground. Me and Twilight were finally able to come out from behind the table.

At that moment, Spike and Peewee came into the room. "Guys hurry, there's something going on at-." Spike stopped in the middle of his sentence and looked around the room. "Whow, what happened here?"

I shrugged. "I don't know, Twilight what do you think happened?" I asked as I turned to face Twilight.

She just shrugged to me and I turned back to face Spike, "Anyway, what did you want to say Spike?"

"Oh yeah, I was looking out the window and saw something going on at Sugar Cube Corner, you should check it out!" Spike said.

Me and Twilight nodded to each other and we galloped out the door with Jeff on my back and Spike running behind us with Peewee on his shoulder.

**Sugar Cube Corner**

When we reached Sugar Cube Corner, we looked at the cake-like building to see that it didn't look like anything had happened. We then walked into the shop and our eyes widened.

There was cake and pie splattered everywhere, on the floor, on the walls and on the ceiling.

"Ok, everypony split up and see if you can find anypony." I said turning to everypony.

We all split up to different parts of the shop to find anypony that may still be here.

"Pinkie? Mrs Cake, Mr Cake, anypony home?" I yelled out throughout the house, until I heard mumbling coming from behind me.

I turned around, but all that was in front of me was a wall with a large blob of cake stuck to it. Suddenly, I heard the mumbling again and the big blob of cake on the wall was shaking.

"AHHH, THE CAKES ALIVE; WE'RE ALL DOOMED." Jeff yelled.

The blob of cake then peeled off the wall and fell on the floor, leaving a clear patch in the shape of Pinkie Pie on the wall. Pinkie Pie then got up out of the cake.

I turned my head to face Jeff. "It's just Pinkie."

Jeff looked towards Pinkie. "Oh…AHHH, IT'S PINKIE; WE'RE ALL DOOMED."

I rolled my eyes and walked towards Pinkie. "Pinkie, what happened here?"

"Well, I was just here getting ready to open the shop when all the cakes and pies were suddenly flying everywhere and splattering everywhere. I mean, it would have been fun if it weren't for the splattering everywhere part." Pinkie said with her eye wide.

"Where's Mr and Mrs Cake?" I asked. Pinkie started looking around the room. "They were here with me when it started."

Jeff then felt something drip on his head; he put his wing on his head and then looked at his wing to see some more cake. He then looked up. "Sweet Celestia."

Me and Pinkie then looked up and our eyes widened at what we saw. It was Mr and Mrs Cake stuck to the ceiling with doe covering the bodies and the mouths.

"AHHHHH." We all yelled out. Twilight then galloped into the room. "What's wrong? Why are you all-AHHH." She yelled once she saw the state Mr and Mrs Cake were in.

"How did they get up there? How do we get them down?" Twilight asked in a panic like tone.

"Don't worry, I'll get them down." I said before I flew up to them. I grabbed onto Mr Cake and tried to rip him off the ceiling but he just kept slapping back into place.

I grabbed him again and gave him a powerful tug but when he slapped back into place it took me along with it and half my face got stuck to the doe.

I tried to rip myself off but the cake was too sticky and my head kept being pulled back to the doe.

"Matt, are you stuck?" Twilight yelled up to me.

I tried pulling off again "No." I answered. I was then snapped back onto the doe. "Yes" I admitted.

Twilight rolled her eyes and her horn started to glow. I then felt her magic grab on to me and started pulling me off the ceiling, the doe then tore off my face and I was quickly pulled to the floor with a hard thud.

Twilight came up to me and helped me up "Sorry." She said with a sheepish smile.

I rubbed my head. "Don't worry, I'm alright. But how are we going to get them down?"

"I've got it." Twilight said as her horn started to glow again.

Suddenly, Applejack burst into the shop. "Twilight, Matt, you have ta come quick I need your help."

Twilight didn't turn away from her task. "Just a moment Applejack, I just have to-."

"There's no time for a moment, you guys have to come right now." Applejack interrupted before she pulled us out of the shop with Spike, Jeff, Peewee and Pinkie Pie following.

Mr and Mrs Cake looked at each other and let out a large sigh through their nostrils.

**Sweet Apple Arches**

We galloped on the road that lead to Sweet Apple Arches and when we got there our mouths dropped at what we saw.

The barn was floating in mid-air and the apple trees had come to life and they were using their branches as arms and throwing apples at Big Macintosh, Applebloom and Granny Smith who were standing behind a wagon with pans on their heads as helmets.

"This has to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen." I said with my eyes wide open.

Jeff turned his head to face me. "Yeah, first books attacked us, then we found a cake covered Pinkie Pie and now this?"

"I don't know what happened, I was working in the apple fields and when I came back everything was like this." Applejack said.

"Well why are we still standing here? Let's get down there and do this." I said before I galloped into the farm land with everypony following me.

We galloped up to the three farm ponies and kept our heads down to avoid the apples being thrown by the trees.

Granny Smith turned her head to face us. "Applejack, you brought your friends. Good, we need all the help we can get" she then grabbed a bunch of pans.

"Here, put these on. They'll protect ya heads." Granny Smith said as she placed pans on our heads. Which felt kinda weird.

We then started picking up apples and threw them back at the trees; I was having trouble throwing them because I was still having trouble picking up with hooves.

"Come on sonny, my grand pappy could throw better then you and he was half blind." Granny Smith shouted behind me, which startled me and I started throwing faster.

We had been throwing apples for an hour and the trees weren't backing down. We managed to hit some of the trees but they just kept picking the apples back up and threw them back at us.

"THAT'S IT." Twilight yelled before he horn glowed and a wave of magic spread throughout the farm land with a bright glow.

When the light faded, we opened our eyes to see that the trees had returned to normal and the barn was back on the ground. "Nice one Twi." I said with a smile.

The three farm ponies examined the farm. "Now what in Equestria was that all about?" Applebloom asked.

Spike walked up to her. "We don't know, but a lot of weird things have been happening today."

Applejack then looked around the farm. "Well it looks like it all over now." She then turned to me and Twilight. "Thank ya'all kindly, we're all mighty grateful for your help, ain't we Big Mac?" she said as she turned head to Big Macintosh.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh responded

Granny Smith then walked in front of us. "Yeah we owe you one and you need to work on your throw errr…what was your name again sonny?" She asked as she looked at me.

"Matthew." I answered

"What was that?" she asked holding a hoof behind her ear.

"Matthew." I said a little louder.

"WHAT?" she asked again.

"MATTHEW." I shouted.

She grabbed my hoof a shook it. "Well nice to meet cha Batthew."

"Batthew?" I said raising an eye brow.

"Nah, Big Macintosh helps me with the bath, don't cha Big Mac." She said turning her head to Big Mac.

"Eeyup." He admitted with a frown.

I slowly backed away. "Ok well, we have to get going. We have to clean the library."

"Yeah, we have to start cleanin' up our selves, see ya'all later." Applejack said as she waved her hoof.

We all said goodbye and left Sweet Apple Arches. On the way back, Pinkie Pie went in the direction back to Sugar Cube Corner. "I'd better get back to the shop, I just remembered we left Mr and Mrs Cake stuck to the ceiling."

"Ok, bye Pinkie." Twilight said waving her hoof. With that, Pinkie Pie galloped away back to the shop. We all then started walking back to the library.

**Library**

When we got back to the library, we opened the door and frowned at the sight of the books still scattered on the ground.

We all let out a big sigh before we went to work on cleaning up the library.

It was night time by time we finished cleaning the library. We were all so exhausted that we all collapsed "This has to be the weirdest day of my life." I said lying on the floor.

Twilight tried to turn her head to face me. "I know, I can't explain it."

I leaned up off the floor. "Well, something's going on around here. I'm going to go open a window and get some air in here."

I then walked to the window, opened it and stuck my head out to breath the fresh air. Suddenly, something caught my eye, a tall hooded figure walking through the streets.

"What the hell is that? I've never seen anything like that here." I thought to myself as I brought my head back in.

I then walked towards the door and opened it. "I'll be back in a minute Twi."

She gave me with a confused look. "Where are you going?"

I turned my head to face her. "I just need to check something out, don't worry I'll be back." I then walked out the door and closed it behind me.

I saw the hooded figure walk further away from the library and I started to follow it.

**Filed outside of Ponyville **

I followed the figure to an open field outside of Ponyville and I saw it standing in the middle, facing away from me.

I walked up to it and there was silence between us, I was about to break the silence before the figure beat me to it.

"You must be Matthew! I must say you don't look how I imagined you." The figure said not turning to face me.

I raised an eye brow. "And you are?"

"Oh just a wondering soul, returning to where it all started, trying to find some good fun….like the kind I caused today." The figure said turning slightly.

My eyes widened slightly. "That was you? But why would…..wait! I know your voice." No…it can't be him.

The figure then turned around, grabbed his cloak and ripped it off, revealing himself.

"Discord" I said in a scared tone.

"Oh, so you've heard of me! Good, because I've heard a lot about you, even your little relationship with Twilight. To be honest, I can't see why anypony would date her, she's sooooo boring." Discord said as he lied on his back in the air.

"Don't you dare talk that way about her." I said in an angry tone.

Discord clapped his hands. "Oh good, you're getting angry. Anger builds energy and you're all going to need it for what I have planned for you."

I raised and eye brow with an angered look still on my face. "What plans?"

With a flash of light, Discord suddenly appeared beside me. "Well you see, I have a game in mind and you, Twilight and her friends are going to play."

"And if we refuse?" I asked.

Discord placed his arm around me. "Well, then you'll have to live with me living in Canterlot Castle."

I pushed his arm off me. "What do you mean Discord?"

Discord then hovered in the air and rotated around me. "That's where the games being held and Celestia is the prise."

I didn't take my eyes off him as he rotated. "You'll never hold her captive, she see you coming a mile away."

Discord stopped and chuckled. "Oh Matthew, it's already done and she's waiting for you to save her."

I gasped as my eyes widened in horror.

Discord waved his talon hand. "Now run along Matthew, you have a game to be ready for." He then snapped his fingers and he disappeared in a white flash.

"Oh, and tell Twilight I said Hi." Discords voice echoed in the air.

I then galloped back to Ponyville to tell Twilight about this shocking news.

**Library**

I galloped through the door of the library, slammed the door behind me and lowered my head to try and catch my breath.

Twilight and Spike walked up to me with concerned looks on their faces. "Matt, what's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost." Twilight said.

I brought my head back up and looked at her. "More like a spirit."

She gave me a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Let's just say…Discord says Hi." I said.

"DISCORD?" Twilight and Spike yelled in horror with the eyes wide open.

**There you go, Discord's causing trouble again. Can Matt, Twilight and their friends stop him? **

**Find out next chapter, which is coming soon.**

**Goodnight everypony.**


	12. Chapter 12: Castle Discord

**In the song in this chapter I had to change some lyrics so they'd match the story.**

Chapter 12: Castle Discord

Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Applejack all galloped into the library with Jeff leading the way.

"Guys…..I got….the others…..like you asked." Jeff said trying to catch his breath.

I walked up to him. "Thanks Jeff, go take a lie down buddy."

He stuck one of his feathers up to make a thumbs up and walked towards the stairs.

Applejack then came up to me. "Jeff told us the news. Is it true? Is he really back?"

I nodded. "Yeah, Me and Twilight already have a plan set up in the other room, follow me!" I then walked over to the next room with the others following me.

We walked into the next room to see Twilight pacing back and forth, she then noticed us come in. "Good, you're all here. Let's get started."

Everypony then sat on the floor facing the wall and I walked over to the wall and pulled down a diagram of the castle.

I turned to face everypony and pointed at the diagram. "Ok, we all know that Discord has returned and has taken over Canterlot castle. He claims that he's holding Princess Celestia captive and that the only way to help her is if we play some kind of game he's holding at the castle."

Everypony nodded to say they understood.

I nodded back. "Ok, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take the train to Canterlot, get inside the castle, open the castle vault, get the Elements of Harmony, make our way to the throne room; Discord would most likely be there, hopefully the Princess is with him and use the Elements to defeat Discord and save the Princess. Are ya with me?"

"YEAH." They all yelled.

"Then let's do this thing." I said before we all galloped out of the room.

"Spike, Jeff, Peewee, you stay here ok!" I said face them.

"Should we come with you?" Jeff asked.

I put a hoof up. "No, he only wants us. If he sees you he'll properly do who knows what to you."

Spike, Jeff and Peewee gulped hard.

Me, Twilight and the others then galloped out the library and headed towards the train station.

**Meanwhile: Far away dark mountains**

One of the silhouetted alicorns was alone in what apparently was a throne room with four thrones; each throne was next to each other. He was sitting on the throne with the alicorn skull on the top.

Suddenly, a bolt of black flames burst out the ground and when the flames cleared, one of the other alicorns stood in its place.

The alicorn kneeled. "Brother, I have grave news." A male voice said.

The other alicorn looked down from his throne. "What is it brother." A dark male voice said.

"It's Discord; he's taken Canterlot castle and hold Celestia captive. Her student and her friends are on their way to Canterlot and that green Pegasus is with them." The male voice said.

The alicorn on the throne glared down at the other. "That fool, he was supposed to lead them AWAY from Canterlot; not make them go there, he'll ruin everything." The dark male voice said in an angry tone.

The second alicorn got up from kneeling and looked up at the other. "I will go and put an end to this outrageous act."

"Be sure that you do." The dark voice said darkly.

Black flames then formed around the other alicorn and when the flames cleared, the alicorn was gone. Leaving the other alicorn alone on his throne.

**Canterlot: Train station **

The train had finally reached the Canterlot train station and we all galloped off the train.

"Come on, we have to get to the castle before Discord can do any more damage." I said before galloping ahead with the others following me.

We galloped through Canterlot until we reached the castle grounds; we then slowed our speed and looked around the castle.

Nothing had changed on the outside, except there were no guards standing at the door or anywhere outside the castle.

Twilight walked up beside me. "This isn't right. The guards are never gone."

"Then where do you think they are?" I asked not looking away from the castle.

"I don't know, I just hope the Princess is alright." Twilight said in a worried tone.

I turned my head to see the worried look on her face. I placed my hoof on her shoulder, she looked at me and I gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry Twilight! We'll save her, I promise."

She then gave me a warm smile back.

"How sentimental, you two really do make a cute couple." Discord's voice echoed in the air, startling Me and Twilight. The others came up to us and we were looking around for Discord.

Suddenly, a light flashed in front of the main doors and Discord was standing there.

"Twilight Sparkle and friends…..we meet again." Discord said while pressing his fingers together.

Rainbow Dash leaned closer to Applejack. "Aww man, it really is him." She whispered to Applejack.

Twilight stepped forward. "What have you done with the Princess?" she demanded.

Discord stuck his hand out and looked at the back of it. "Oh she's safe…..for now. All you have to do is play my game and she's yours."

Twilight growled and I stepped forward. "What is this game anyway Discord?"

In a flash of light, Discord appeared beside me with his elbow lying on my back. "You'll like it, it's an easy one. All you have to do is make your way through the castle until you reach the throne room, if you can make it to the throne room the Princess is yours, if not…well, I win."

With that, he snapped his fingers and he disappeared in a bright flash.

I turned to face everypony. "Well…..I guess we're going in."

Everypony nodded and we walked towards the main doors. When we opened them, we were shocked to see that the hallway inside had grown longer than it used to be. It's getting weird already.

As we walked further and further down the hallway, we noticed that I the room kept getting smaller as we got further until we were reduced to crawling until we finally reached the now small double doors.

I pushed open the doors and crawled out through them with everypony following me.

I looked around the room to see that we were in the room with the big stairs. We then walked up the stairs and turned left to the doors that lead to the room that the Elements were kept in.

We then walked through the doors and we saw the vault at the end of the room. As we walked towards the vault, Twilight stuck her hoof out in front of me to stop me from walking.

"Twilight what's-" I couldn't finish my sentence as she pointed to the ground, I looked down to see seven rows of tiles on the floor in front of us, each tile had a letter on it.

"What's this supposed to be?" I asked.

"This is your first test in the game, the object is to solve the riddle and jump on the letters that spell the word and you can only jump on one tile in each row in order to get across. But be warned, if you guess incorrectly…well, you'll find out. Now; here's the riddle. _In my life that I must bare, my bloodline I must share, what am I?" _Discord's voice echoed in the room.

"What the hay's that supposed to mean?" Rainbow Dash asked in an annoyed tone.

We all stood in silence as we thought hard about the riddle, until finally I got it.

I walked up to the tiles "The riddle says that in his life he has to share his bloodline and you share your bloodline with a relative so the answer is sibling." I said.

I then stepped on the tile with the letter S on it and nothing happened. I continued jumping from tile to tile, spelling the word until I jumped on the last tile on the last row and with a flash of light, the tiles disappeared and everypony was able to come over to me.

"Smashing work Matthew, but why would Discord choose a word such as sibling as an answer?" Rarity asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, he's properly trying to confuse us."

She nodded slightly and we continued to walk towards the vault. When we reached it, I looked at the small hole in the middle of the vault doors.

"So, how do we open this thing?" I asked looking back at the others. Twilight then walked up to the vault doors and stuck her horn in the small hole.

She pulled her horn out and the vault doors began to open. I had to cover my eyes with my hoof to block out the bright light coming from the vault.

The light finally cleared and I was able to put my hoof back down and open my eyes to see the vault wide open and the box inside it.

I walked up beside Twilight. "I thought only the Princess could open the vault." I said raising an eye brow.

She turned her head to face me. "Yeah, but she entrusted me with the spell in case of emergencies."

Twilight's horn then glowed and the box levitated towards us. She placed the box on the floor and we all gathered around it.

Twilight's horn glowed again and the lid of the box lifted, revealing the Elements of Harmony.

My eyes widened in awe at the sight of the most powerful magic in Equestria. "Wow…..the Elements of Harmony….I can't believe I'm actually looking at them." I thought.

Twilight's horn glowed again and the Elements rose out the box and Twilight placed the tiara on her head while she placed the necklaces on the others.

Soon they all were wearing their Elements and we then headed back out the room.

When we walked back into the room with the stairs, we were shocked to see that the room had disappeared and all we could see was stars in a dark environment. It was as if we were standing in mid-space.

We saw another door floating a short distance away from us and we slowly made our way over to it. Afraid that we might make a wrong step and fall to nowhere.

As we walked, Twilight leaned her head closer to me. "This is weird; Discord didn't do anything like this last time."

I turned my head to face her. "He didn't have a castle to mess with last time."

We reached the door and I pushed in open. To our relief, the next room was a hallway back in the castle but there were doors everywhere, even on the ceiling.

All our jaws dropped at the sight, but we then walked further down the hall way and stopped in the middle.

"Now what?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's simple my dear, each door leads somewhere but only one door leads to the next room. Your job is to find the right door and you'll be one step closer to finding the Princess." Discord's voice echoed in the air.

I then turned to face everypony. "Ok, here's the plan. Twilight, you, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie search the doors down here and Me, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy will search the doors on the ceiling. Which is very confusing but then again with Discord, what isn't?"

They all nodded and we all split up to start searching the doors.

Rarity opened one of the doors to see a brick wall. Pinkie Pie opened a different door to see a wall of water and a fish swim bye and Rainbow Dash opened a different door and was shocked to see a railroad track and a train coming right towards her, she screamed as she slammed the door shut.

She then looked at me. "This is gonna be harder than we thought." I nodded in agreement.

A few minutes later, we had already checked 27 doors and we still hadn't found the right one.

"This is getting ridicules, we're never gonna find that stupid door." I said as I was about to open another door.

I opened it and to my surprise, it was the door to the next room and I saw the next door at the end of it.

"Hey, I found it." I said before I walked through the door.

But before anypony else could follow me through, the door slammed shut behind me.

I spun around and started banging on the door with my hooves. "Hey, open up! Discord, open this door!" I yelled.

On the other side of the door, Twilight was banging on the door with her hooves trying to open it. Suddenly, the door began to move. The girls looked around to room to see that all the doors were moving.

Suddenly, the doors quickened their speed until they were shuffling around the room. The doors finally came to a stop but they were moving fast that Twilight and the others lost sight of the right door and now they'd have to find it again.

On the other side of the door, I was still banging on it until I heard a flash behind me. I turned around to see Discord lying on his back in the air.

"Oh Matthew, has anypony ever told you to hold doors open for ladies?" Discord said looking down at me.

I walked towards him and stooped a few inches away from him. "Open the door Discord." I demanded.

Discord lowered himself to the floor and stood in front of me. "Hey, what's the rush?"

I pointed a hoof at him. "You know pretty damn well what the rush is."

Discord crossed his arms. "Oh yes, you want to save Celestia. (Sigh) why can't you ponies ever see things my way?"

"Forgive us for not being ones for chaos Discord." I said with a glare in my eyes.

With a flash of light, Discord appeared beside me again. "And that's the problem, just think of how much fun we could have if I was in charge and everypony accepted things my way."

I glared at him again. "And what's your idea of fun? Taking away our wings and horns and plunging Equestria in eternal chaos?"

Discord placed his lion hand on his chest. "And do things the easy way?...Matthew my boy I'm so disappointed in you, where's the fun in that?"

With a flash of light, Discord disappeared from my side and reappeared a few feet away from me. He snapped his fingers and an electric guitar appeared in his hands and he started playing it. After playing a few notes, a microphone on a stand appeared; he pulled it to his mouth and started to sing.

**Discord: **_"You can be a goody two-shoes 'till the end of your days_

_You can listen to them say crime never pays_

_You can follow every law and be the big black bat_

_But why would you want to? Huh!_

_Where's the fun in that?_

_Where's the fun in thaaaaaaat?_

_So, smile, darn you, smile_

_Everypony loves to grin_

_Follow my lead, recite my creed_

_And smile, darn you, smile_

_Don't listen to the dullets say that life is a bore_

_Those fuddy-duddies spoil my fun!_

_That's why I strive to eradicate gloom_

_It's from that itch, I made the switch _

_And chose my nom de plume_

_Discord!_

_There's the fun in that, HaHaHaHaHa_

_There's the fun in thaaaaaaat_

_So, smile, darn you, smile_

_Everypony ought to laugh_

_And so with glee, I do decree_

_Just smile, darn you, smile."_

With a flash of light, Discord disappeared and reappeared beside my with his arm wrapped around me.

**Discord: **_"So, when living gets a little rough_

_And you find it hard to cope_

_I'm the gent with just the stuff_

_To fill you full of hope."_

Discord then flew a few feet in front of me again.

**Discord: **_"Just smile, darn you, smile_

_Everypony needs a clown_

_Now with one stroke, the final joke_

_Just smile, darn you_

_Smile, darn you, smile_

_Everypony loves to grin_

_Follow my lead, recite my creed_

_And smiiiiiile, HA!_

_Darn you, smiiiiiiiiiiiiile."_

Discord then threw himself back laughing "HAHAHAHA, oh I love it." He whipped a tear from his eye.

I stomped my hoof down. "Enough stalling Discord. Open the door, let my friends in and tell me how to get to the Princess, NOW."

Discord gave me a slight glare. "(Huff), no wonder Twilight likes you, you're so boring. But maybe I can fix that."

Suddenly, Discord was close up to my face and his eyes started to show multiple colours.

I quickly looked away with my hoof over my eyes. "Oh no Discord, I know what you're trying to do and I'm not going down that easy."

Discord's eyes returned to normal. "You're not as dumb as you look, you know that?"

Discord's eyes then shot open with a look of fear on his face. I looked up to him "What?" I asked.

I then noticed that he wasn't looking at me but something behind me, I turned around slowly to see a silhouetted alicorn. I couldn't see who it was as I was too busy looking into the pair of glowing red eyes looking down at me.

As its eyes glow brighter, I started to go lightheaded and I closed my eyes until my mind went completely black.

When I opened my eye, they were glowing just as red.

The alicorn looked towards Discord. "This isn't what we wanted you to do Discord. We needed you to lead them away from here, not lead them here." a male voice said

Discord raised his talon hand. "Don't worry, I have everything under control. Soon, I'll be on Celestia's throne and you will have your revenge Celesta."

The alicorn glared at him. "You had better be right Discord, because if you come even close to defeated and I have to help you get away, my brother will not be pleased."

Discord nodded slightly and the alicorn looked down at me.

"Destroy the Elements of Harmony." He said.

I didn't know why, but at that moment I had the desire to do it. "Y….yes my master."

Black flames then formed around the alicorn and when the flames cleared, the alicorn was gone and I walked back to the door.

On the other side of the door, Twilight and the others were still opening different doors until I kicked the door open and everypony spun around to face me.

Twilight had a look of relief on her face when she saw me. "Matt, thank Celestia you're alright, I was so wor-" Twilight stopped her sentence when she saw my eyes.

"Matt, what's wrong with your eyes? Their red." Twilight said in a concerned tone.

"Must destroy the Elements of Harmony." I said darkly.

Twilight and the others gasped loudly at what I said.

I then charged towards the girls with intention to rip the Elements off each of them and destroy them. When I got close to them, I pounced towards them but as I was about to reach them they all split up.

I glared up to see Rainbow Dash and I flew up to her. When I reached her, I grabbed her and tried to pry the necklace off of her.

"Get off me." She yelled before she rose me up and slammed me against the ceiling, I then fell to the floor.

I got up off the floor and I saw Applejack ahead of me. I growled and galloped towards her; she then turned around and was prepared to buck. "Sorry 'bout this sugar cube."

When I got close, she bucked her legs out but I caught them. I then spun her around by her legs and threw her on the ground.

She looked up at me in fight as I approached her. But as I was about to reach her, I was tackled by somepony and fell to the ground.

I looked up to see Rarity glaring at me. "Matthew stop this, this isn't you."

I glared back. "This is my task and I will complete it." I then got up at shot at Rarity; I grabbed her and threw her across the room where she crashed to the floor next to Twilight and Pinkie Pie.

Twilight helped her up and they all watched me casing Fluttershy.

"What's wrong with him? Why is he doing this?" Rarity asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, his eyes are as red as ketchup or maybe an apple or maybe-" Pinkie Pie was cut off by Rarity putting her hoof over her mouth.

Twilight looked at them. "He must be under mind control. That manticore that attacked us had glowing red eyes just like Matts."

"Well how do we snap him out of it?" Rarity asked

"I've got an idea, it may not work but it's worth a try." Twilight said before she charged towards me.

I was just about to catch Fluttershy until Twilight tackled me and we both fell to the ground. As we did, Twilight's tiara fell off her head and slid across the room.

Me and Twilight both eyed the tiara and I got up and tried to gallop towards it but Twilight grabbed my back leg, which tripped me up.

As I was getting back up, Twilight galloped towards the tiara and managed to get to it before I could.

As she was putting it back on, I tackled her to the ground and pined her down by the hooves with her back on the ground so she was facing me.

I chuckled evilly. "You'll never defeat my master, soon we will rule all of Equestria and there's nothing you can do about it."

Twilight tried to get out of my grip but she couldn't, she then stopped struggling and looked up at me. "There is one thing I can do."

I raised an eye brow. "And what would that be?"

She then shot her head up and pushed her lips against mine, my eyes widened in surprise at the sudden act but I then closed them and started kissing back.

Suddenly, the darkness in my mind cleared away and my thoughts returned to me. After we broke the kiss, I opened my eyes and they were back to their blue selves again. I looked down to see Twilight looking up at me smiling. "T…Twilight?" I said weakly.

Twilight's smile grew. "Matt, you're back."

I then got up off Twilight and help her back up. "Twilight…I...I'm sorry, I saw you I saw you all, I wanted to stop but…..I couldn't…I'm so sorry."

I lowered my head and I felt a hoof on my shoulder, I looked up to see Twilight smiling sweetly at me, I smiled back and we shared a warm hug.

Everypony then came up to us. "Matt, what happened to ya?" Applejack asked.

I turned to her. "I don't know, I was in the next room with Discord and…..I saw a pair of glowing red eyes and…..I don't remember."

Rarity raised an eye brow. "Glowing red eyes? Discord doesn't have red eyes."

I shook my head. "It wasn't Discord, it was….something else."

"Like what?" Fluttershy asked.

I put a hoof up. "There'll be time to think about it later, right now we have to get to the throne room." With that everypony nodded and we headed to the door.

Lucky for us, the door I came out from was still open and we went through it, we then walked across the other room until we came to the door.

I pushed it open to see the hallway with all the portraits and vases. And at the end of the hallway was the door to the throne room.

We walked through the hallway until we came to the door. I turned around to face the others. "Ok, this is it, Discord and the Princess should be right behind this door, you all ready?"

They all nodded, "Right then." I said as I turned to the door and pushed it open.

We walked through the door to see Discord on the throne, he snapped his fingers and the door behind us disappeared.

We all stopped in the middle of the room and glared at Discord. "Congratulations, you made it." Discord said with a grin.

I stepped forward. "Where's Princess Celestia." I demanded.

Discord pointed upward and we all looked up and our eyes went wide as we saw Princess Celestia trapped in some kind of yellow orb made of magic floating in the air.

Twilight glared at Discord. "Let her go." She demanded.

Discord laid his head on his hand. "Oh must we rush things? You just got here."

I glared harder at him. "Game's over Discord, you lose….again."

I stepped to the side to let Twilight and the others get a good shot. "Girls, I think you know what to do."

Twilight and the others then stepped forward and they began to rise in the air and started to glow.

As they did, a bolt of black flames burst out in front of them and when the flames cleared the silhouetted alicorn stood in its place.

I tried to see who it was but the light coming off the Element was too bright for me to see.

The alicorns horn the glowed and then storm clouds formed on the ceiling, lights formed in the clouds until they shot a bolt of lightning towards the girls and hit them.

The girls were sent fly across the room and were smacked against the wall, I the galloped up to Twilight to see if she was alright.

While I was with Twilight, the alicorn turned to Discord. "You've failed Discord, I suggest you leave…now." He said darkly.

Discord gulped hard. "Well…..this was getting boring anyway." He then chuckled sheepishly.

The alicorn gave Discord one last glare before black flames formed around him and when the flames cleared, the alicorn was gone.

As I helped Twilight back up, we looked at Discord to see him snap his fingers and with a flash of light, he disappear.

Another flash came from behind us; we turned around to see the door was back. "There, you win. The rest of the castle is back to normal. But don't celebrate too much, I'll be back." Discord's voice echoed in the air.

Suddenly, the orb that Celestia was in disappeared and she fell to the ground.

We all galloped up to her and help her up. "Don't worry, I'm fine." She said in her calm voice.

I looked up to her. "Princess, I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner."

She looked down at me with a smile. "Don't be, you came and faced every obstacle that Discord threw at you. And I must say Matthew, you century have proven yourself to be most helpful to your friends and me."

"Thank you Princess, but Discord got away and I think there may be something else happening that we don't know about." I said in a slightly worried way.

Twilight looked at me with a confused look on her face. "Like what."

"Like that alicorn who just blasted you and the others away, how is it possible that his magic was stronger than the Element?" I said before looking up at Celestia.

"I don't know, but I fear that this has gone far beyond Discord, I fear that darker forces are at work here and soon they will reveal themselves." She said in a determined voice.

We all looked at each other with worried looks on our faces.

**Meanwhile: Far away dark mountains **

Discord crashed into a wall and fell the ground coughing; one of the silhouetted alicorns slowly approached him and lifted him up with its magic.

"Discord you useless fool, you nearly ruined everything. If Celestia or any of those ponies saw my brother, they'd would grow suspicious and double to security around the castle." A dark male voice said angrily.

He then let Discord go and he fell to the ground. "Don't worry, next time I'll keep them in Ponyville and let you do your stuff." Discord said sheepishly.

The alicorn gave Discord a hard glare. "Pray you don't fail me again Discord, now get out of my sight." The alicorn said.

With that, Discord snapped his fingers and he disappeared in a flash of light.

The alicorn then walked over to the large green pool and was watching us with Celestia in the throne room.

"They have proven to be more irritable then I thought, but soon I will have all their heads mounted on my wall." The alicorn said evilly.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**The song used in the chapter is called **_**Where's the fun in that? **_**from the animated TV series **_**Batman the brave and the bold**_**, I do not own anything. **

**If you want to listen to the song and still enjoy MLP clips, a fan made a video on YouTube with Discord clips and this song playing in the back ground, the video is called **_**Discord – where' the fun in that?. **_**Go check it out. I do not own anything.**

**Goodnight everypony.**


	13. Chapter 13: Way to Rarity's heart

Chapter 13: Way to Rarity's heart

**Ponyville: library **

It's been 2 day's since Discord's attack on the castle.

I was lying on the bed in the guest room, looking up at the ceiling with my front hooves behind my head.

I was thinking about that mysterious alicorn that was at the castle. Who was he? Why did he help Discord? How was his magic stronger than the Elements themselves?

My train of thought was cut off by Jeff bursting through the door. "Jeff, I really just want to be alone and think right now."

Jeff flew towards me and landed beside me. "I know, you're still worried about that alicorn thing, but this is important you have to check this out." Jeff said as he tried to push me off the bed.

I rolled off the bed as Jeff was trying to push and he fell on the bed. He got up and started flapping in the air.

"Ok now that's out the way, follow me." Jeff said before he flew towards the door.

I let out a small sigh and followed him out the door. He led me up to the room with the balcony outside.

"Ok Jeff we're here, what is it?" I asked in a non-satisfied tone.

"Look." He said as he pointed to the balcony, I looked out to the balcony to see Spike leaning on the barrier.

I raised an eye brow. "What's he doing out there?"

I walked out onto the balcony and up to Spike. I then tapped him on the shoulder and he let out a small yell as he spun around fast.

When Spike saw that it was me, he put his hand to his chest and relaxed. "Oh Matt, it's just you."

I raised an eye brow as I looked down at him. "Yeah it's me, what are you doing?"

He shifted his eyes left and right. "I was…errr….nothing."

I gave him a suspicious look. "Yeah, a whole lot of nothin'. What are you looking at out there?"

I then tried to get passed Spike but he was trying to push me back. After a short struggle, I finally got passed Spike and I looked down to Ponyville to see Rarity walking through the street's carrying bags filled with different types of fabrics.

"Rarity?...Oh yeah, I forgot about Spike's crush on her." I thought before I turned to Spike.

Spike crossed his arms and turned to face the other way. "So now you know too, I know…..silly right?"

I walked up to him and placed my hoof on his shoulder, he turned around to face me. I smiled down at him. "Not at all, I understand what you're going through."

He gently pushed my hoof off his shoulder. "How could you know what I'm going through?"

"Because I felt the same after I met Twilight. You get feelings you can't explain, you think about her all the time and you keep feeling both nervous and happy around her." I said.

Spike then had a surprised look on his face. "That's…exactly how I feel. But every time I try to show my romantic side, I always get so nervous and embarrassed and then I mess it up."

Spike then sat on the ground and wrapped his arms around his knees so he was in a rocking position.

I tapped my chin. "Poor guy, he really likes her but he's too embarrassed to make a move. But maybe I can help him with that." I thought with a smirk on my face.

I walked up and placed myself beside him and wrapped my hoof around him. "Spike my friend, heaven's light has shined upon you once again…..for it has brought you…..to me."

Spike raised an eye brow. "Riiiiight, so how does that help me?"

"Spike, I'm gonna teach you how to be more confident so you can express your feelings to Rarity without any trouble." I said with a confident tone.

"How are you gonna do that?" Spike asked.

"I just gonna give you some romantic advice and when I'm done, Rarity will be falling for you in no time." I said.

Spike thought hard about it while rubbing his chin until he let out a small sigh. "Ok Matt…..I'll give it a try."

My smile grew. "Cool, so where's Twilight?"

"She's gone to Fluttershy's place for some reason." Spike answered.

"Excellent, that gives us time alone. Now let's get down stairs and get this thing started." I said before lowered myself to let Spike climb on my back. Once he was on my back, we headed to the stairs.

Once down stairs, Spike was sitting on a chair and I was standing in front of him with a chalk board behind me.

I pointed at the chalk board. "Alright Spike, welcome to your first lesson on expressing your feelings. Let's start off with something easy, _practise talking._ If you want a girl to like you then you have to know how to talk to her."

I then walked over to a shelf where Twilight keeps photographs of her and her friends. I grabbed a picture of Rarity and gave it to Spike. "Now, talk to the picture as if you were talking to the real Rarity." I said.

Spike looked down at the picture and gulped. "Well, Emm…..hello Rarity, you're looking….beautiful today…I mean, when aren't you?"

I gave a small smile. "Good good, keep it up!"

Spike then felt less nervous. "And your mane is so shiny and smooth. If there was an award for best hair in Equestria, you'd win it for sure."

"You've had a lot of time to come up with all this, haven't you?" I asked in a slight impressed tone.

Spike smiled and blushed slightly. "Well yeah, I've had a crush on her for a while."

"You can say that again." I said under my breath.

Spike raised an eye brow. "What was that?"

"Errr, I said it's time for the next lesson. _Asking out_, this is one of the hardest parts in a crush life. So you're going practise this on the picture, and go." I said.

Spike looks down at the picture again. "Emmm…Rarity….you know I r-really like you a lot and I know this great restaurant….so I was thinking…would you like to go with me there…and talk and stuff….if you want."

My smile grew bigger. "Well done Spike, I don't know why you're so nervous you're a natural. Now, time for the final lesson."

Me and Spike then walked up to a round table, Spike sat down at the table and I placed a candle in the middle of the table.

"Now, it's time for _the date_ lesson." I said raising a hoof.

Spike looked at me with an unconfident look on his face. "What's this got to do with expressing my feeling?"

"Look, in moments like these it's always important to keep a cool head, you don't want to screw up on your first date do you?" I asked.

Spike turned his head back towards the table and crossed his arms. "No."

I gave him a quick nod. "Good, now for this next part we're not going to use the picture…well in a way we are, but this lesson requires you to keep your cool while on a date with a living pony."

"So, you're gonna put the picture over your face and pretend to be Rarity or something?" Spike asked raising an eye brow.

"Not quite." I said while smirking.

**8 minutes later**

Jeff was sitting on the other side of the table with the picture of Rarity over his face, I couldn't see his face but I knew he was pissed.

I then placed a hoof on Spike's back. "Ok Spike, just act as though you're on your date with the beautiful Rarity…even though it's just Jeff."

"You know, I don't need this." Jeff said with his face still covered by the picture.

I just shook my head and went back to Spike. "Now, show us what'cha got."

Spike then took a sip from his drink, put the cup down and looked at the picture. "You look lovely tonight Rarity." He said with water pouring out his mouth.

I gave him an awkward look. "That was wrong, wasn't it?" Spike said not even bothering to turn to me.

I gave Spike some paper towels so he could clean up the water. "Ya think? Let's try again, Jeff ya ready?"

I didn't get an answer; all I got was snoring coming from where Jeff was.

"Is he sleeping?" Spike asked.

I walked up to Jeff. "Jeff wake up." I said as I pushed him slightly.

"Wha?...Is the date over?" Jeff asked in a tired tone.

"No, you fell asleep." I said in a slightly irritated tone.

"Well can you blame me? The guy could put Pinkie to sleep." Jeff said witch made Spike frown.

I walked over to Spike. "Don't listen to him Spike, you'll get the hang of it. You just need a bit more practise."

Spike got off his chair and stood in front of me. "What's the point? I've been doing things for Rarity ever since I met her and she's never even thought about going out with me."

I tapped my chin. "Maybe there's another way to get Rarity to like you."

Spike sat on the floor. "Fat chance, once Rarity sees it's me she'll just turn me down."

Spike's frown grew bigger as I was trying to think of something else. Until I got an idea. "Wait, what if she doesn't see you and still learn of your romantic side."

Spike looked up to me with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean Matt?"

"I mean you can be anonymous, you can send romantic things to her but not let her know it's from you." I said in an excited tone.

Spike raised an eye brow. "Do you really think that'll work?"

I smirked. "Only one way to find out, wait here." I said before I galloped out the front door and into Ponyville.

**10 minutes later**

Spike was sitting on the chair by the table with Jeff, who had now taken the picture off his face. They were both waiting for me to come back.

I then burst through the door with a bookey of roses in my mouth. I walked up to Spike and laid them on the floor.

Spike raised an eye brow. "What are those for?"

"They're for Rarity, we're gonna take them to her place and you're gonna place them on the door step, ring the doorbell and run away. Easy as that." I said.

Jeff crossed his wings. "Matt, that's never gonna work."

I waved a hoof. "Sure it will, we just need something on it to seal the deal, something that says _I admire you from a far._" I tapped my chin and tried to think of something.

Spike raised a hand slightly. "Well…Emm…I have these love poem's upstairs and-"

"Well why didn't you say so? Let's see'em." I said cutting Spike off.

Spike then headed up the stairs. After a few minutes, he came back down the stairs with pieces of paper in his hands.

He walked up to me and held out on of the sheets. "Here they are Matt."

I grabbed the paper in my mouth and took it over to the table to lay it down to read it.

Once I reached the table, I laid the paper down and started reading it. After reading the poem, I turned my head to face Spike. "Spike this is really good, did you come up with this by yourself?"

Spike smiled and blushed slightly. "Well…yeah."

I was amazed by how he could wright something like this by himself; I then gave him a big smile. "Well, we've definitely found our anonymous message. Now, let's get over there and do this thing."

Spike then had a nervous look on his face. "You mean, right now? As in…right NOW, right now?"

I walked behind him. "Yes right NOW, right now let's go." I then suck my head through his legs and scooped him up onto my back, grabbed the roses in my mouth and galloped out the door.

After we were gone, Jeff was just sitting on the table. "I'll just wait here then."

**Rarity's Boutique**

Me and Spike were hiding behind a bush in front of Rarity's place, watching Rarity walk inside and shut the door behind her.

I turned my head to Spike. "Ok Spike, she's inside. Now take to roses, go over there, place the roses on her doorstep, ring the doorbell and run back here before she answers it."

Spike picked up the roses. "Oh is that all?" he said sarcastically.

"We're about to find out no GO." I said as I pushed him out the bush. He then made his way towards the Boutique.

Once he reached the door step he gulped, placed the roses by the door, rang the doorbell and ran as fast as he could back to the bush.

"You do it?" I asked as I poked my head out the bush. "GET DOWN." Spike yelled as he jumped over the bush while tackling me to the ground.

The moment we hit the ground, Rarity opened the door and looked around for whoever rang her bell. She then noticed the bookey of roses on the ground.

"I wonder who could have sent these." She asked herself as she picked the bookey up with her magic and went back inside with the door shutting behind her.

Me and Spike then got up off the ground and looked to the door to see the roses were gone. "Nice, she's taken them. Now let's get out of here before somepony sees us."

"I'm with you on that." Spike said before he climbed up on my back. Once he was on my back, I galloped off back towards the library.

Meanwhile, Rarity was sitting on her big red chair smelling the roses. She then pulled the roses away from her nose. "These are lovely, who could have sent them?"

She the noticed the note attached to the roses, picked it up with her magic and hovered it in front of her face and stared reading it.

_A poem to Rarity._

_There are times of when I feel so lonely, and I need the concert of a beautiful pony._

_The light of the sun cannot compare, to the glow and shine within your hair._

_All the diamonds in the world will weep, over the sparkle within your eyes I meet._

_In all the days that I'll live through, my heart will always belong to you._

Rarity was stunned by the poem's words. "That was the most beautiful thing I've ever read, who could have written something so heart-warming." She thought. She looked at the bottom of the note only to find the words _From your secret admirer._

Rarity's eyes widened slightly with a small smile on her face. "A secret admirer? I have a secret admirer."

She then got off the chair and jumped up and down on the spot while screaming in an excited way.

**Library**

Me and Spike burst through the front door and slammed it behind us; I was breathing heavily trying to catch my breath.

"Well…..that was…..fun" I said between breaths.

"Do you think she liked it?" Spike asked before climbing off my back, I then turned around and sat down in front of him.

"I don't know, but me and Twilight are going to see her and the others tomorrow at the café, so I can ask her then."

Spike then grew a big smile on his face. "I just can't believe I actually did this. I mean, I never had the guts to do something like this but I did and it's all thanks to you, thanks Matt." With that, he gave me a tight hug around my hips.

I smiled down at him and returned the hug. "Don't mention it buddy." We then heard a fake cough from somepony beside us.

We looked down to see Jeff with his wings crossed and an eye brow raised. "So, how was Rarity?...Not that I would know or anything."

Me and Spike looked at each other and then back at Jeff with sheepish smiles on our faces.

**Meanwhile: Far away dark mountains **

One of the silhouetted alicorns was in the throne room sitting on its throne.

Then another silhouetted alicorn entered the throne room with Discord by its side, the alicorn then kneeled down to the other.

"Brother, I have brought you Discord like you asked." the male voice said.

The other alicorn then came down from his throne and walked up to Discord.

"So what's this all about?" Discord asked in a not so interested tone.

"Well Discord, I've been giving it some thought and found a way that you can redeem yourself after your little blunder at the castle." The dark male voice said.

"Hey, we all make mistakes." Discord said.

The alicorn gave him a slight glare. "I can't afford mistakes Discord…..and I can't afford interruptions ether so that is why you're here."

Discord raised an eye brow. "What do you mean?"

The alicorn turned around and walked over to the large green pool. "I have noticed lately that the green Pegasus Emm….Matthew I believe his name is, and his friends have become somewhat of a nuisance and….I think they're too dangerous to my plans to be kept alive….so, you're going to go back to Ponyville, find this Matthew and kill him and any other pony who stands in your way." The dark male voiced alicorn said turning his head to face Discord.

"WHAT?" Discord yelled with his eyes wide open.

The second alicorn took a step forward. "With all due respect Brother, why not send me to kill him? I will crush him and all of Ponyville with just one hoof." The second male alicorn said.

The other alicorn raised a hoof. "No, we cannot reveal ourselves just yet, but everypony has already seen Discord so he will be the one to kill him."

Discord then had a nervous look on his face. "Well….then we're going to have a problem because….I only make harmless chaos. I don't actually kill anypony….it's just not me."

The alicorn the approached Discord slowly. Discord was so full of fear that he fell to his knees and lowered his ears.

The alicorn then lowered his head so he was glaring down at Discord. "You will make it you…..or we will take away the two things that are most close to you."

Discord was shaking slightly. "L…like what?"

The alicorn grinned evilly. "Well…first, we'll take away half your magic and your name. After that you'll no longer be known as _the spirit of chaos and disharmony_; you'll be known as _the spirit of NOTHING_. And they all count as one of the things we'll take."

Discord gulped hard. "Th…then what's the second?"

"The second…is." The alicorn then leaned in to Discord's ear and whispered something to him that made Discord's eyes shoot open in horror, the alicorn then pulled away from Discord.

"You wouldn't, you can't." Discord said in a horrified tone.

"I would and I can, but you can prevent this from happening as long as you do exactly as I say exactly how I say it….are we clear?" the dark voiced male alicorn said.

Discord then lowered his head "Yes….we're clear." He said in an upset tone.

The alicorn grinned evilly again. "Good…..now go, you have a job to do."

With that, Discord got up off the ground and snapped his fingers. In a flash of light, Discord was gone.

The second alicorn then walked up to the other. "That fool is now under our control, but I still think you should have let me go. What if Discord tries to bail out?" the male alicorn said.

The other alicorn then turned around to face his throne. "Then you and our sister will have the pleasure of punishing him if he does, but you're going to make sure he doesn't disappoint me." The alicorn said as he walked back to his throne.

The second alicorn nodded his head. "As you wish brother." With that, red flame formed around the alicorn and when the flames faded, the alicorn was gone.

The alicorn on the throne then gave an evil smile and chuckled evilly.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter, remember to review. **

**And next chapter will be up soon.**

**Goodnight everypony.**


	14. Chapter 14: Let's Rumble

**Warning: long chapter**

Chapter 14: Let's Rumble 

It was a calm day in Ponyville; everypony was walking around enjoying the hot sun.

Me and Twilight were on our way to the café to meet up with the others.

"Wow, what a gorgeous day." Twilight said as we were still walking.

"Yeah, but there's something more gorgeous here." I said.

Twilight turned her head to face my. "What?"

I turned my head to her. "You" I said with a smirk on my face.

Twilight blushed slightly "Matt, you're such a flatterer." She said as she nudged up next to me.

My smirk grew bigger. "Yeah, the one thing you should know about me; I'm a sweet talker."

We continued to walk to the café with us by each other's side.

When we reached the café, we saw Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie on a large table. We walked up to the table and joined them.

"Howdy Twilight, Matt, glad ya made it." Applejack said.

"On a day like this, wouldn't miss it." I said.

Rarity stuck out a hoof. "I took the liberty of ordering your drinks, their all on me today."

I looked down on the table to see two drinks for me and Twilight; I pulled them closer to us. "Thanks Rarity, what's the occasion?" I asked before I put the straw that was in the drink in my mouth.

Rarity placed her hoof on her chest. "Well it turns out, I have a secret admirer. He sent me a lovely bookey of roses and a wonderful poem with it. (Dreamy sigh) I've never read something so romantic in my life." She said in a dreamy tone.

I then had a large smirk on my face. "She liked it; I should tell Spike when we get back to the library." I thought.

Fluttershy turned her head to Rarity with a smile on her face. "Oh, how romantic."

Rarity turned to Fluttershy. "Oh it was, I simply must find the one who sent it. I wonder what kind of colt he is, a Pegasus? A unicorn?"

"I wouldn't count on it." I mumbled while laying my head on my hoof.

Rarity turned her head to me. "What was that darling?"

I quickly sat up. "Errrr, nothing." I then quickly put the straw back in my mouth.

Suddenly, we saw a bunch of ponies run passed the café. "What's going on?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out." Rainbow Dash said before she got out her chair and flew off to go where the other ponies where going.

We all looked at each other before we all got off our seats and followed her.

We followed the ponies to the town hall where there was a large stage set up with everypony standing in front of it.

We walked over and joined the crowd. After a few minutes, the mayor of Ponyville walked up to the middle of the stage.

The mayor then walked up to the microphone and leaned her head towards it. "Good morning Ponyville, we have a very special guest here today to award the seven young ponies who stopped the villainous Discord and saved the castle."

We all then grew surprised by this. "That's us, that's us." Pinkie Pie cheered as she jumped up and down on the spot.

The mayor then stuck her hoof out. "And now fillies and gentlecolts, presenting the one who gives us the sun. Princess Celestia." With that, there was a white flash of light and Princess Celestia appeared on stage and waved at the crowd.

Once everypony saw the princess, they all cheered and repeatedly stomped their hooves on the ground, we also started stomping.

The mayor moved aside from the microphone to allow Celestia to go in front of it. Once Celestia was in front of the microphone, she leaded he head towards it.

"Greetings Ponyville, It is so nice to see you all again and now to the awards. Twilight, Matthew, would you and your friends like to come up on stage?" Celestia said as she looked at us.

Me and the others then walked around the crowd until we came up to the stage. After we got up on stage, we all stood next to Celestia.

Celestia gave us a quick nod before she turned back to the microphone. "I have come here today to thank my student, her coltfriend and her friends for standing up to Discord, saving the castle and rescuing me in the proses. So that is why I am awarding them these special medals."

When Celestia's horn glowed, there was a flash of light before seven gold medals appeared hovering in front of us. Each one had one of our cutie mark symbols on it.

Celestia then levitated six of the medals towards us before they placed themselves around the necks of Twilight's and the others, I was wondering why Celestia didn't give me mine.

Celestia then looked at me. "Matthew, would you mind coming here to receive your medal? I want to say something." With that, I walked up to Celestia.

She then turned back to the microphone. "For this medal, I would personally like to thank Twilight's coltfriend Matthew. Because even though he first meat Discord on the night he took over the castle. He didn't show any fear of Discord and kept going until he was defeated. And that is why I award him this medal for his strong bravery."

The crowd then cheered and repeatedly stomped their hooves on the ground; I looked over to the others to see their smiling faces. But nopony's smile was larger than Twilight's; I gave her a large smile back before turning my head back to Celestia.

Celestia then levitated the medal towards me and I lowered my head slightly so she could put it on. Suddenly, there was a big flash of light behind Celestia; which caused her to turn around fast and drop the medal before I shot my head up to see what was happening.

When the light cleared, Discord was standing on the stage a few feet away from Celestia. "DISCORD" me, Twilight and Celestia yelled.

"What are you doing here?" Celestia demanded.

"I have a business to attend to…with Matthew." Discord said with a glare as he approached us.

Celestia stepped in front of him and spread out her wings to block his way. "You will not go near him, Twilight or any of their friends." She said in a commanding voice.

Discord glared harder. "For once, this doesn't involve YOU. Now get out of my way."

Celestia glared up at Discord. "Never."

Discord then had a look of anger on his face. "Have it your way." With that, he snapped his fingers.

Celestia then felt her hooves grow cold and looked down to see ice rise up her legs. She turned her head around to see her hind-legs were already frozen and the ice moving across her body.

The ice covered her entire body until it came to a stop at her neck so her head was left unfrozen.

"Now, if you'll excuse me?" Discord said as her walked around Celestia and towards me.

As he walked closer to me, I took a few steps back. "What do you want Discord?" I asked with a glare.

Discord glared down at me. "It's not what I want….it's what HE wants."

I raised an eye brow. "Who's HE?"

"Pray you don't live long enough to find out….in fact, I'll make sure you don't." Discord said as he began to hover in the air.

I took a few more steps back. "Excuse me?" I a slightly worried tone.

Discord just kept glaring down at me "I'm sorry Matt, but I have to do this." With that, sparks of electricity began to form on the palm of his hands. My eyes slowly grew wide at this slight.

Discord then stuck out his talon hand and shot a bolt of electricity at me, I quickly jump out the way and the bolt hit the stage, leaving a burnt mark on the wood.

Discord growled before he shot my bolts at me, but I kept dodging them, which made more burnt marks.

Once he stopped, I finally had a chance to speak. "ARE YOU CRAZY?" I yelled up to him.

He raised an eye brow, I then looked at Twilight and the others to see they also had an eye brow raised.

I turned back to Discord and held a hoof up. "Ok, poor question. But what are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, but I have no choice. You…must…die." Discord said before he flew down at me.

As he caught me off guard, he grabbed me as he continued to fly forward while holding me out in front of him.

He flapped his wings harder as we came up to a house and slammed me into the wall.

I collapsed to the ground and tried to get up but Discord walked up to my side and used his dragon leg to kick me in the side which caused me to flip over on my back coughing.

Discord then walked up to my head and lifted his deer leg over it. As he forced it down, I quickly rolled out the way; forcing Discord to miss my head and stomp on the ground.

I quickly got up and glared at Discord, he glared back before we started slowly walking in a circle; never taking our eyes off each other.

Rainbow Dash then flew up next to me while glaring at Discord. "Don't worry Matt; I'll help you take down this creep."

I turned my head to face her. "No Rainbow Dash, help Celestia out that mess. I'll take care of Discord."

Applejack stepped forward. "No can do sugar cube, I already told ya you're not doing things like this alone."

As the others came closer, I saw the determination in their eyes and I nodded. "Ok, but Applejack; you and Rainbow Dash have to get the Princess out of that ice and we will take care of Discord."

Applejack and Rainbow Dash nodded and headed back to the stage to help Celestia. I then turned back to face Discord's glare had grown harder.

Twilight and Pinkie Pie stood on my right side while Rarity and Fluttershy stood on my left while we all glared at Discord.

"I have no time for you." Discord growled before he raised his glowing lion hand. Suddenly, Twilight and the others started glowing and they levitated up into the air.

Discord pushed his hand forward and Twilight and the others were sent flying backwards, crashing to the ground.

My eyes went wide before I galloped over to Twilight. When I reached her, I help her back up. "Are you ok?" I asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Twilight answered as she rubbed her head.

I spun my head back towards Discord while gritting my teeth. "Alright Discord, you want me? Come get me you freak of nature."

With that, Discord growled as he flew into the air and shot off towards me with his body moving like a snake.

I then charged towards him. As we got closer to each other, I flew up high in the air and Discord shot under me.

He turned his head to see me as he continued flying forward; I pointed my hoof to tell him to turn around. Which he did and yelled in terror as he crashed into a fruit stand.

After a few seconds, he got up out of the wreckage and wiped the splattered fruit off his face before he snapped his figures and disappeared in a flash of light.

I quickly looked left and right to try and find him but he was not where in sight. It was all silent and my tension was building every minute.

Suddenly, I heard a flash behind me and I turned around fast to see Discord throwing a punch down at me. I quickly dodged the punch, grabbed his arm and pulled him down.

As he was coming down, I pushed my free hoof up to his head and punched him in the jaw, causing him to stumble back a bit. As he held his jaw, I turned my body around and used my hind-legs to buck him in the stomach.

As he bent over hold his stomach with a pained look on his face, I climbed up on top of his head and held on to his antlers. He then leaned strait up, "Get off of me." He growled as he swung his head around like a mad bull.

Discord then back up to a house and threw his head back, causing me to hit the wall behind me and lose my grip on his antlers.

He spun around to face me before he grabbed me by the throat with his lion hand and held me up against the wall. I was gasping for air as I was holding on to his arm to try and make him let go but he was too strong.

As he chuckled evilly, I kicked my right hind-leg up and it whacked him in the jaw, forcing him to lose his grip on my neck and I fell to the floor.

Before Discord could recover, I flew a few inches in the air and shot myself forward with great strength so I was pushing Discord through the air as I flew.

I continued to the fly while pushing Discord until we came to the stage and we crashed into the side of the stage, breaking some of the wood. As Discord was grunting as he tried to get back up, I quickly grabbed the end of his tail and flew up into the air, pulling Discord up with me.

It took a large amount of strength but I managed to get Discord high up in the air and started spinning him around in circles above me.

I then finally let go of his tail, sending him flying towards the town hall and crashing through roof.

Everypony who had been watching started cheering for me as I landed back on stage. As I stood on stage, I saw that Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still trying to break Celestia out of the ice. Twilight and the others then galloped up on stage and towards me.

"Matt, are you alright?" Twilight asked with a concerned voice as she examined my body.

I gave her a small smile. "A bruise or two but I'll live, that is unless Discord comes back out." We then looked towards the town hall's main doors.

I then started walking towards them. "Matthew, what are you doing?" Rarity asked.

I turned my head to face her. "I'm going to end this before somepony gets hurt."

Applejack turned away from the Princess and to me. "Matt, you don't have to do that. You already beat him, it's over."

I turned my head back to the doors. "If I can knock him unconscious, it'll buy you guys some time to get the Elements to turn him back to stone. So I'm going in."

I then continued to walk towards the doors. "Be careful Matt." Twilight said in a worried tone.

As I reached the doors, I took a deep breath before I place my hoof on the doors. "DISCORD." I yelled as I pushed the doors which caused them to swing open.

I got no response as the main hall was dark and silent; I then slowly walked further inside, looking left and right for Discord.

"Discord, I know you're here. Come on out." I yelled. Suddenly, the main doors behind me slammed shut which caused me to flinch.

"Well well Matthew, you have a lot more fight in you then I anticipated." Discord's voice echoed through the hall.

I glared. "Come out and I'll show you a lot more." I continued to walk further down the hall.

There was a moment of silence before I decided to break it. "Why are you doing this Discord? I never thought you to be the type that kills." I said.

"You think I want to do this?...you think this was my decision?...I'm the victim here, you're the one who's caused all the trouble." Discord's voice echoed through the hall.

"I haven't done anything to anypony." I yelled out in anger.

"Oh, but you have Matthew. You and your friends interfered with matters that weren't yours and now I'm forced to end it." Discord's voice echoed.

I kept looking around for him. "If you don't want to do this, then why don't you…oh I don't know, STOP." I yelled.

"Because I have no choice, it's a matter of life and death." Discord's voice yelled.

I raised an eye brow in confusion. "Life and death? What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Enough questions…..lets finish this." Discord's voice said darkly.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light behind me. I spun fast just to have Discord grab me by the mane, toss me up in the air and as I came down; he punched me which sent me flying across the hall and crashing to the floor.

After a few seconds, I picked myself off the ground and charged towards Discord. As I did, electricity formed around his palms again and he shot bolts at me again.

I dodged all the bolts of electricity he shot at me as I continued to charge at him until I finally reached him and head-butted him in the stomach which caused him to fly backwards and crash to the floor.

Discord then got off the ground and shot towards me. Meanwhile as me and Discord were fighting, a small cloud of black smoke seeped through the wall, we didn't notice it come in.

The cloud the formed the shape of a small alicorn with red glowing eyes. It watched us fight for a minute before turning its head towards the curtains attached to a nearby window. The smoke alicorns horn glowed and a spark flash on the curtains causing them to catch fire.

The smoke alicorn chuckled slightly before disappearing in the wind. The flames began to spread up the curtains and on the wall.

Meanwhile, I grabbed Discord by the waist and flew up to the ceiling with great speed and whammed in into the ceiling. I then threw him to the ground and dived down after him and whammed myself into him causing us the crash to the floor, Discord first.

I got up off Discord and looked down at him to see he was unconscious. After I turned around to head back to the doors, Discord's eyes shot open before he got up off the ground and pounced me to the ground while wrapping his hands around my neck.

Discord snarled down at me as his grip on my neck got tighter, it was starting to get harder to breathe through his grip until something caught his eye which made him loosen his grip.

I saw the look of fear on his face and I turned my head to where he was looking to see the entire left wall burning in roaring fire, my eyes went wide at the sight of this.

With Discord's grip getting looser, I placed my hind-legs on his chest and pushed him off of me. I then galloped towards the door.

Discord glared as I was galloping away from him and snapped his fingers, part of the fire then moved like a snake and made a line of fire in my path. The flames then grew high so they were blocking my path as I quickly came to a stop.

I turned around to face Discord. "This ends here." he said as he slowly approached me. I got in a fighting position. "Bring it!" I growled.

We gave each other sharp glares before I charged towards him. As I got closer to him, he spun around and whacked me to the side with his tail and I fell to the ground.

I leaned up to see Discord approaching me. I then felt something hot on my hoof and I looked down to see glowing hot embers, apparently they can't burn me through my hoof. Then a cruel idea came to mind.

As Discord got closer, I scoop up some of the embers and threw them at Discord's face. The embers hit him in the face and some of them hit him in the eyes.

Discord yelled in pain while covering his eyes with his hands. I took this opportunity to strike.

I flew up In front of his face and started punching him in the face, forcing him to remove his hands from his face. I then swung my hoof up as fast as I could and hit him in the jaw. Sending him flying up onto the balcony.

At this point, the fire had spread all over the main hall and the air was full of smoke. I tried to make my way to the doors but I was choking on the smoke filled air and fell to the floor coughing.

Meanwhile outside the main hall, the ponies were trying to put out the fire with buckets of water but it was no use. Twilight and her friends all watched in horror as the main hall burned. Celestia was still trapped in the ice and was squirming her head around trying to break out.

Twilight had her mouth covered with one of her hooves with a worried look on her face; she even had tears forming up in her eyes.

Rarity came up beside her and placed a hoof on Twilight's shoulder as they continued to watch the fire.

Back inside the main hall in the room with the balcony, Discord groaned as he rubbing his head while he got up off the ground.

He opened his eyes to see the room was also on fire. Before he could do anything to get out, two bolt of fire burst out the floor in front of him; one was black and the other was dark purple. When the flames faded, two of the silhouetted alicorns were standing in their place.

"W…what are you two doing here?" Discord asked nervously.

One of the alicorns glared. "Our brother has grown impatient with you Discord, your time is up." A male voice said.

Discord gave them a frustrated look. "I wasn't on a timer."

"Oh….did we forget to tell you? You had twenty four hours to kill Matthew." A female voice said evilly.

"Then I have the rest of the day to do it." Discord said in a frustrated tone.

"We also forgot to mention that the timer started the minute you left our throne room." The male alicorn said before he chuckled darkly.

Discord's face turned to anger. "That's not fair."

"You would know what's unfair wouldn't you? Given your reputation as a trickster after all. Now…..say goodbye to your name." the male alicorn said before both their horns started glowing.

Discord's eyes widened in horror as he glowed white and kneeled to the ground in pain. Once the glow faded, Discord was panting heavily.

"You know Discord; it's not a total loss. In fact, our brother saw your efforts and decided to not take away the second thing he said he would take. Instead, he wanted us…..to kill YOU." The female alicorn yelled before her horn glowed.

A large long thick plank of burnt wood on the ceiling then glowed and broke off the ceiling; the alicorn then levitated the plank above Discord.

The alicorns horn then stopped glowing as did the glowing on the debris and fell; Discord had a look of horror as it fell on top of him.

The female alicorn then walked up to Discord unconscious body and looked down at him. "Let's finish him."

"No, I have a better idea. Let's leave him here to die." The male alicorn said.

"I like the way you think brother." The female alicorn said before they both disappeared in two bolts of black and dark purple flames.

A few seconds later, Discord began to come too. Once he was fully awake, he tried to pull himself out from under the plank of wood but he was stuck.

Meanwhile, I got up off the floor and weakly looked over to the door. I started to gallop towards it.

"HELP….I'M STUCK." Discord's voice yelled from the high room. I skidded to a halt and looked up at the balcony.

"Discord's still up there? Why hasn't he got out yet?" I thought as I looked back to the door, I then looked back up to the balcony.

"Grrrr, I gonna kick myself for this later." I thought before I took off into the air and flew up to the balcony.

Once I reached the balcony, I flew into the room and started looking around for Discord. "Discord, where are ya?" I yelled through the crackling fire.

"Matthew…over here." Discord's voice said from across the room. I looked in the direction his voice came from and saw him under the plank of wood.

I then landed in front of him and he looked up at me. "Am I glad to see you, I thought you already left." Discord said with a small smile.

I glared down at him. "Can't really say the feelings mutual." I said. Discord then frowned and I let out a big sigh.

"Alright Discord, you have to help me lift this off of you. Ready? One, two, THREE." With that, we both pushed up at the plank of wood but it wouldn't move.

Discord then stopped pushing and looked up at me. "Matthew…..get yourself out, leave me here."

I stopped pushing and looked down at him with a confused face. "What? You've been trying to kill me all day and now you want me to save myself and leave you to die…..why?"

"Because I no longer need to kill you and…..I'm useless to the world now, I've lost my name." He said with his ears down.

I raised an eye brow. "What do you mean you lost your name?"

"I mean, I'm no longer the spir-" Discord was interrupted by something crashing through the roof. I looked up and I was surprised to see Rainbow Dash flying towards us.

"Rainbow Dash, down here." I yelled while waving a hoof. She saw me and flew down to me. She then landed next to me.

"Rainbow, help me lift this thing!" I said as I grabbed the plank again, Rainbow Dash nodded and grabbed the other side before we stared pushing up.

With mine, Rainbow Dashes and Discord's strength combined, we were able to lift the plank off of Discord and toss it aside.

Discord then tried to get back up but he just collapsed back on the floor. The building started to make creaking noises as the fires grew bigger.

"Come on, we have to get out of here." Rainbow Dash yelled. I nodded and placed Discord's lion arm over me. "Rainbow, help me fly him out!" I said.

Rainbow Dash nodded and placed Discord's talon arm over her before we flapped our wings as hard as we could and lifted off towards the hold in the roof that Rainbow Dash made.

Once we got out of the burning town hall while carrying Discord, the town hall collapsed to the ground causing many ponies to scream in terror.

We then landed back down to the stage where Twilight and the others were waiting for us. "MATT." Twilight cheered as she galloped towards me with a big smile on her face.

Once she reached me, she wrapped her hooves around my neck and started repeatedly kissing my cheek ignoring the fact that I was covered in soot.

She then took her hooves off my neck and took a step back so she could see my face better; she then had a worried look on her face. "Are you hurt? Any broken bones? Are you burnt anywhere?"

I let out a small chuckle. "I'm fine Twi. Trust me; it'll take a lot more than that to kill me." We then smiled warmly at each other before we locked each other in a warm hug.

As we broke the hug, I turned my head to face Rainbow Dash. "Thanks Rainbow Dash, I owe ya one." She then walked up to me.

"Matt, you have to be ether the craziest pony in Equestria…or the bravest." Rainbow Dash said with a smile before she gave me a playful nudge on the shoulder with her hoof.

We then heard groaning behind us and we turned around to see Discord picking himself up off the ground while coughing.

He looked up to see us looking down at him with serious faces. Discord then gave me a confused yet surprised look. "You saved me…..why?"

"I'm not the kind who leave ponies to die." I said.

Discord then got up from the ground. "Well…I quest I should say thank you, huh?"

I then gave him a slight glare. "Just because I saved you doesn't mean I like you Discord." He then frowned slightly.

Twilight then stepped forward. "Free the Princess now Discord." She snapped.

Discord the put his hands up. "Ok Ok, keep your horn on!" with that, he snapped his fingers and the ice on Celestia started cracking until it all fell to pieces, freeing Celestia.

Twilight then galloped up to Celestia. "Princess, are you ok?" Celestia smiled down at her. "Yes, I'm fine."

Celestia then turned her attention to Discord. "And now to deal with you." She said with a glare as she approached him.

Discord then fell to his knees. "Ok let's all calm down for a minute, I have a very good reason why I did this today."

I stomped a hoof down. "Not interested." Celestia then stepped forward. "Wait, I want to hear what he has to say."

Me and Twilight then looked up at her with a confused look on our faces. "What?" we both said at the same time.

Celestia didn't take her eyes of Discord. "Very well Discord, tell us why you attacked Matthew!"

Discord then had a pleased look on his face. "Well the truth is, I was being blackmailed by this alicorn. He said if I didn't kill Matthew he'd take away half my magic and my name, so I had no choice. But I was tricked and now half my magic is gone and I'm not the spirit of chaos and disharmony anymore…I just the spirit of nothing now." Discord said in an upset tone while looking down at the floor. "I can't tell her what the second thing he threatened to take away was…not yet." Discord thought.

"Oh come on." I thought angrily.

Celestia raised an eye brow. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Discord got up of his knees and walked closer to Celestia. "Because my name was the only thing that made me want to cause endless chaos. Without it; I don't feel the desire to do it. That's why I've decide to change and help you take down this alicorn for betraying me."

"You've gotta be joking." I said out loud in an unconvinced tone.

Discord stroked his beard with a thinking look on his face before he look back to Celestia. "I'll prove it." He then looked around until he looked at the destroyed town hall.

He had a smirk on his face as he snapped his fingers. Suddenly, there was a big flash of light which faced us to cover our eyes. When the light faded, we opened our eyes only to be shocked to see the town hall was fully repaired.

Discord turned his attention back to Celestia. "Now, is that something the old Discord would do?...look Celestia, I know I've done bad in the past and I understand why you all hate me for it, but I beg of you to just give me one chance to earn your forgiveness."

There was a moment silence before Pinkie Pie burst out into tears.

Celestia then went into deep thought as she paced left and right until she came to a stop and turned her head back to Discord. "Alright Discord, you get one chance but if you show any signs that you're still your old self, you'll have to deal with me."

"YES." Discord yelled as he bent his talon arm down.

I then stepped forward. "Princess you can't be serious; this is Discord we're talking about. You know, the one who tried to over throw you, the one who causes endless chaos and let's not forget the one who tried to kill me today, how do we know he's safe to be around?" I said in a frustrated tone.

Celestia tapped her chin before giving Discord a serious look. "Alright I've come up with a decision. Discord, I can't say I trust you just yet and seeing as how you owe your life to Matthew anyway, you'll be staying with him and Twilight until I am fully convinced." She said as she turned around to walk away.

"What." Me and Discord said at the same time. I then walked back up to Celestia as she continued to walk away. "Princess, you can't really expect us to let Discord live with us; do you?"

Celestia turned her head to face me as we walked. "Don't worry Matthew, if he does anything just let me know and I'll handle him." With that, her horn glowed and she disappeared in a flash of light.

"OOOOOH." I moaned before Discord came up beside me. "I guess this means we're going to spend a lot of time together." He said with a smile.

I growled as I glared at him.

**That night: The library**

Twilight walked through the front door with me behind her with an annoyed look on my face with Discord walking behind me.

After I walked through the door, my eyes shifted to the right as I grinned deceptively before I kicked the door shut in Discord's face with one of my hind-legs.

I just snickered before Discord reopened the door and walked through while rubbing his nose. "I doubt that was the wind." He said with a small glare.

The library was quiet, which must mean Spike, Jeff and Peewee were asleep. Good thing too, I didn't want them going to sleep knowing Discord was here.

Discord then looked around the room. "So, where do I sleep?"

Twilight tapped her chin before looking up to Discord. "Well, there's a guest room where Matthew use to sleep, maybe you can-"

"Oh no way, he's not sleeping up stairs while we're there." I said in an assertive tone.

Discord then crossed his arms. "Fine, I'll just make my own bed." Discord then snapped his fingers and a cloud appeared hovering in the middle of the room. Discord then flew up to it, laid back on it, snapped his fingers again before an eye mask appeared over his eye and put his hands behind his head before drifting off to sleep.

Me and Twilight looked at each other before she turned to go upstairs; I shook my head and followed her.

Once up stairs, I laid down on the bed and rolled myself on my side so I was facing off the bed. Twilight then laid down next to me and looked up to the ceiling. "Well this is surly a weird turn of events." She said still look up at the ceiling.

I huffed and Twilight turned her head to me. "Matt what's wrong? Why are you so frustrated by this?" she asked.

I let out a sigh and rolled myself to the other side so I was facing her. "I'm sorry Twi; I just can't stop thinking Discord's up to something. I don't trust him." I said calmly.

"I know how you feel Matt, but if the Princess is giving him a chance then so am I, will you please do the same?...for me." She asked sweetly while placing he hoof on my shoulder.

I thought about it for a second and made my decision. "Ok, I'll try to get along with him….but if he does anything bad I'm reporting him to the Princess. If not….I'll accept that he's changed." I said as calmly as I could.

Twilight then gave me a warm smile. "Thanks Matt." She said sweetly before leaning her head towards me and giving me a kiss on the cheek before rolling to her side so she was facing away from me.

I then rolled to my back and looked up at the ceiling before closing my eyes and going to sleep, trying not to worry about Discord.

**Meanwhile: Far away dark mountains**

The two silhouetted alicorns entered the throne room and kneeled before the alicorn on the throne.

"Brother, the deed is done….Discord is dead." The female alicorn said.

The alicorn on the throne glared down at them. "Oh really?" his dark male voice said before his horn glowed and the two alicorns were lifted off the ground and thrown to the ground next to the large green pool.

The alicorns then picked themselves up off the ground and looked into the pool to see Discord asleep in the library. "If Discord is dead then why is he staying in the same home as Matthew? who is also still alive." The alicorn on the throne said darkly.

The two alicorns turned to face the alicorn on the throne with fear in their eyes. "Please forgive us brother; we will not fail you again. We will go there right now and destroy Discord and Matthew." The male alicorn said.

The alicorn on the throne stomped his hoof down. "No, you will do nothing until I say so, now leave me." the alicorns dark voice growled.

The two alicorns lowered their heads "Yes brother." They both said as the backed out the throne room, leaving the alicorn alone.

The alicorn then walked up to the pool and looked into it. "Discord has joined them, this was…..unexpected. I'll have to come up with something more…drastic….and I think I know what that is." The alicorns dark voice said as he glared into the pool.

**Sorry it took so long, but as you can see it's a long chapter. I think only a few will be like this but don't worry! I'm not giving up on this story.**

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Goodnight everypony.**


	15. Chapter 15: Day with Discord

Chapter 15: Day with Discord

As the sun rose up in Ponyville, I groaned as I woke up. I then let out a large yawn before I leaned up on the bed and looked to my side to see that Twilight wasn't next to me. I then began to worry that Discord might have done something to her, so I leaped out of bed and galloped down stairs.

I then galloped into the kitchen and exhaled in relief when I saw Twilight sitting at the table with Jeff, Spike and Peewee.

Twilight then looked at me with a slightly concerned look. "Are you ok? Matt."

I finally calmed down; I gave her a small smile. "Yeah I'm fine, I just thought that-" I didn't finish my sentence as there was a flash of light and Discord appeared sitting on a chair next to the table. "Never mind!" I groaned.

I then walked over to the table and sat down by it; not taking my eyes off Discord.

After we ate our breakfast, I got up and headed towards the door to the next door. "Ok, I'm going to make my delivery's Twilight, I'll be back soon. Come on Jeff!"

"Comin'." said Jeff before he flew off the table and landed on my back.

Twilight the placed her hoof under her chin and had thinking look on her face before her horn glowed. She disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in front of me. "Matt, I want you to do something for me today. Ok?" She said with a slight desperate look.

"Sure Twi, what is it?" I asked as sweetly as I could because I could see in her eyes that she really wanted me to do something for her.

"I want you to take Discord with you." Twilight said.

My eyes widened. "What?...he is not coming with me out there." I said in an assertive tone before I walked passed Twilight.

Twilight's horn then glowed again and she disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in front of me again. "Come on Matt! You said you would give him a chance and try to get along with him."

"Yeah but not out in public." I said with a serious look on my face.

Twilight then placed her hoof on my chest and looked at me with begging eyes. "Please….I trust the Princess' decision and I just want you to do the same, at least try! Please"

I looked into her eyes and saw that she really wanted me to do this and trust Celestia's decision. I let out a small sigh. "Ok….he can come. As long as he doesn't cause any trouble that could get me fired."

Twilight then gave me a sweet smile before she hugged me. "Thanks Matt." She said while still hugging me. I smiled and returned the hug.

We then broke the hug and I turned my head to the kitchen entrance. "Discord, you're coming with me to work." I yelled. Discord then poked his head around the kitchen entrance with a smile on his face. "Yay, day trip." He cheered.

We then walked towards the front door. Once we reached the door, I opened the door and turned my head to Twilight who was standing next to me.

Twilight had a sweet smile on her face. "Try to have a good day!" she said. I nodded "I'll try." I said before we shared a kiss on the lips.

"Oh come on." Jeff thought as he rolled his eyes.

After we broke the kiss, I walked out the door with Discord fallowing me. Discord then hovered up beside me with a smirk on his face. "Did you tell the girl you love her?"

"Don't push it!" I said aggressively through my teeth.

I then took off into the sky with Jeff and Discord flying behind.

**Sweet Apple Aches **

After a few minutes of flying, Me, Jeff and Discord finally landed in Sweet Apple Arches. I looked towards the barn to see Applejack with my delivery cart and we all walked over to her.

When we reached Applejack, I waved my hoof slightly. "Hey Applejack, everything set for me to go?"

Applejack then noticed Discord behind me. "Errrr Matt, ya do know who's behind ya right?" she said with a raised eye brow.

I narrowed my eyes. "Don't remind me!" I groaned.

"Ok well, I'll get cha'all saddled up. I don't have much time." Applejack said as she quickly strapped the cart to my back. I gave her a confused look. "Why? What's going on?"

Applejack had a panicked look on her face. "Caterpillar's Matt, they're eating at our apple's; they've already eaten half our west field." Applejack the pointed at the fields.

We all turned our heads to the field to see the apples on the apple trees being devoured by huge caterpillars.

"Whow, those are some big bugs." Jeff said.

"If we don't do somethin' soon, we'll lose our apple supply and we'll fall back on our budget for this month." Applejack said in a panicked voice.

Discord rubbed his chin until a large smirk crawled onto his face. He then cracked the joints in his fingers. "I'll take care of them."

Applejack glared up at Discord. "Oh no, you're no usin' any of your magic stuff on my apples." She said assertively.

Discord put his talon hand up. "Don't worry Applejack; I have no interest in harming your apples, trust me!"

Applejack then looked down at the ground with a raised eye brow while she was thinking; she then looked back up at Discord and nodded.

Discord then turned his attention to the apple trees and snapped his fingers. With a flash of light, all the caterpillar's turned into butterflies and they all flew out of the apple field. Discord then snapped his fingers again and with a flash of light, all the devoured apples returned on the trees as if they were never touched. Discord then snapped his fingers one last time and the apples levitated off the trees and placed themselves into the baskets below the trees.

Applejack's eyes were wide open with a big smile on her face. "Boy howdy, I have to admit that was mighty handy. Thank ya kindly Discord."

Discord turned his head to face Applejack with a smile on his face. "You quite welcome Applejack; glad to know somepony believes I've changed."

I glared at him. "Shouldn't we be going?" I asked in an irritated tone before I turned around and headed out the farm with Discord following behind.

******Fluttershy's cottage**

After making a few deliveries, my final delivery was for Fluttershy. As we approached Fluttershy's cottage, we saw her and the Cutie Mark Crusaders outside looking up at the roof of the cottage.

I walked up behind Fluttershy and looked up to see what she was looking at. "What'cha lookin' at?"

Fluttershy let out a small squeal as she spun around fast to face me. "Oh Matt, it's just you."

I nodded "Yeah, I brought your order of apples." I said before I got the bag of apples out the cart and placed them in front of Fluttershy "Oh, thank you Matt." She said in her quiet voice.

She then looked behind me to see Discord giving her a slight wave. "(GASP) Discord!" she said in a scared tone before she laid on the ground and covered her eyes with her hooves while shaking.

"This is just embarrassing." Jeff said with an eye brow raised.

I then lowered my head down to her. "It's ok Fluttershy, he's with me, though I wish he wasn't." Fluttershy then uncovered her eyes and I held my hoof out, she placed her hoof on mine and I helped her stand back up.

"So what's wrong?" I asked with a raised eye brow.

She turned her head back to her house. "Do you see those squirrels up on the roof?" she asked. We looked up at the roof to see a small group of squirrels. "Yeah, what about'em." Jeff answered.

Fluttershy didn't turn her head away from the squirrels. "Well, they all have stomach problems and I was trying to give them their medicine but they wouldn't take it and ran out the window and up on the roof and I can't get them to come down." She said in a concerned tone.

I then came up next to her. "Why not fly up there to get them?"

Fluttershy turned her head to face me. "I've tried, but every time I get close to them they throw acorns at me."

I raised an eye brow. "Acorns?" Fluttershy then nodded.

"We'll get them down." Sweetie Belle said as she, Applebloom and Scootaloo galloped up to the cottage.

Sweetie Belle then stood next to the wall of the cottage before Applebloom jumped on top of her and Scootaloo jumped on top of Applebloom so they were forming a tower.

As Scootaloo tried to grab the edge of the roof, Sweetie Belles legs were shaking because of the weight of her two friends pushing down on her until she finally lost her balance and collapsed to the ground causing Applebloom and Scootaloo to fall with her.

"Maybe squirrel catching's not our special talent after all." Applebloom said as she stood back up while rubbing her head.

"Gee, what gave you that idea?" Scootaloo said sarcastically.

As the Crusaders walked back over to us, I decided to get this over with and flew into the air and towards the roof. When I reached the roof, I slowly flew towards the squirrels. "Ok little squirrels, it's time to take your meds so why don't you just come down nice and cal-OW." I was interrupted by something hard hitting me on the head and catching it in my hoof.

I looked at my hoof to see an acorn in the middle of it. "An acorn? Is that the best you go- AHHHH." I yelled in terror as a swarm of acorns crashed stormed at me causing me to fall to the ground.

I was looking up at the sky with my eyes narrow while there was a pile of acorns covering my body. "That didn't work." I said in an obvious tone.

Jeff then flew down to the back of my head. "What's the matter Matt, this whole thing drivin' you nuts, HAHAHAH."

We were all silent while Jeff was laughing at his crap joke, Jeff laughter then faded once he realized nopony else was laughing. "Wow…tough group." He said finally giving up.

I then pushed all the acorns off of me, stood back up and glared up at the squirrels. "That was a cheap shot." I yelled up to the squirrels while shaking a hoof before one of the squirrels threw another acorn at my head. I didn't react as I just stood there glaring while the squirrels burst out laughing in high pitched squeaks.

I then turned around and stormed back to Fluttershy. Jeff then flew towards us and landed on my back.

Discord then stepped forward. "I might be able to get them to come down."

We turned our heads to face Discord. "And how are you planning to do that? They're armed and loaded." I said with a raised eye brow.

Discord then placed his lion hand on his chest. "I can speak to them." He said with a smirk on his face.

"You're gonna speak squirrel? This I have to see." I said with an amused smile before sitting on the ground; getting ready to watch this goofy act.

Discord then disappeared in a flash of light and then reappeared on the roof. The squirrels were about to throw more acorns before Discord leaned down to them.

"Squeaky, squeaking, squeaker, squeaky." Discord said in squirrel talk. The squirrels then lowered their acorns and had curious looks on their faces. One of the squirrels the started squeaking to Discord.

"HaHa, squeaker, squeaking, squeaker." Discord said.

Me, Jeff, Fluttershy and the Crusaders had confused looks on our faces as we watched Discord talk to the squirrels. I then moved my head closer to Fluttershy without looking away from Discord. "What the friv is he sayin'?"

Fluttershy did the same with her head. "I have no idea."

I then let out a frustrated sigh. "This is a waste of time. Talking to the squirrels….that has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever-." I stop in my sentence as I saw the squirrels climb down from the roof and run towards Fluttershy. Soon the squirrels were all on Fluttershy's back.

"You are kidding me." I groaned under my breath with my eyes wide open.

A large smile came on Fluttershy's face as she looked at the squirrels on her back. "Oh, they'll let me give them their medicine, this is wonderful."

With a flash of light Discord appeared in front of us with a smirk on his face. "Thank you so much Discord." Fluttershy said.

Discord smiled. "Don't mention it dear Fluttershy, it's my way of saying sorry for what I did to you when we first met."

Fluttershy then smiled warmly. "Wow, you really have changed."

The smirk returned on Discord's face as he crossed his arms and looked down at me with a raised eye brow. I just rolled my eyes.

The Crusaders then walked up to Discord with large smiles on their faces. "That was awesome Discord." Scootaloo said.

"Maybe we can get our cutie marks being squirrel speakers." Applebloom said in excited tone.

"Yeah, can you teach us how to do that? Discord." Sweetie Belle asked. Their smiles then grew bigger.

Discord smiled down at them. "Of course I can." I then made a fake cough sound and Discord then frowned slightly. "But I'm afraid I can't right now, I have a busy day with Matt today."

The Crusaders then looked at the ground in disappointment. "Awww."

Discord gave them a warm smile and leaned down to them. "Don't worry young ponies, I'll be back later." The Crusaders grew small smiles before Discord walked passed them and headed back to Ponyville.

I let out a small sigh before following him. Fluttershy and the Crusaders waved us goodbye and I waved back before continuing to follow Discord.

**That afternoon: Ponyville streets**

After returning the empty cart to Applejack and collecting my pay, I was trying to calm myself by taking a walk through the streets of Ponyville with Jeff on my back and Discord hovering behind me.

I looked around to see other ponies giving me strange looks while whispering to each other. "Oh no, thanks to Discord noponys going in to trust me anymore." I thought in a worried tone.

As we kept walking, Jeff turned his head to Discord. "So Discord, now that you only have half your magic what magic can you do now?"

Discord tapped his chin. "Well, I can't take away a wings and horns anymore; I can't make houses hover in the air; in fact I can't alter reality at all. All my magic's good for now is pulling harmless pranks."

While still walking, I then turned my head around to face him. "Yeah but you may want to ease down on the pranks." Discord gave me a confused look. "Why?"

I then gave him a serious look. "Because I don't share you're your sense of humor with your kind of pranks." As I kept walking, I suddenly bumped into something which made me fall back on my flank.

I rubbed my head as I got back up and opened my eyes to see a brown earth pony with a cart of pies attached to his back. "Sorry." I said.

The pony gave me a glare. "Why don't you watch where you're going kid!" he said aggressively.

I glared back slightly. "Kid? I'm not a kid, I'm 16." I protested.

He then rolled his eyes. "Whatever, just stay out of my way." He then walked passed me while pulling the cart behind him.

I glared sharply at him as he walked away. "Ass hole." I growled under my breath.

Discord glared at the pony before a large grin crawled on his face. "Hey Matt, remember those pranks I mentioned a minute ago?" he said in a sly voice.

I gave him a suspicious look while nodding. Discord then snapped his fingers and a banana peel appeared on the ground in front of the brown pony. The pony kept walking until he stepped on the peel and slipped backwards onto his cart.

When he fell on his cart, all the pie fling in the air. The pony's eyes shot open at the sight of the pies hurling down to him until all the pies splattered on him; covering him in pie.

Discord and Jeff burst out laughing. At first I didn't find it funny, but then I thought about how much of an ass that pony was and the look on his face when the pies fell on him. I then felt the thought tickled me and I started laughing slightly.

I covered my mouth with my hoof; trying to hold back the laughter but it was no use as I joined Discord and Jeff in laughing. "Ok HaHaHa, I have to admit THAT was funny HaHaHa." I said while laughing.

Discord whipped a tear off his eye and looked at me. "See! Now was that so bad?"

I gave him a small smile. "Guess not." I then let out a small chuckle.

Discord then came up beside me. "Come on! Let's see if we can prank any other ponies." he said in an excited tone.

I shook my head while smiling before looking back up to him. "Fine, I guess there's nothing wrong with a bit of a laugh."

We all then set out to find ponies to prank.

******Later that evening: Fields outside of Ponyville**

Me, Jeff and Discord were lying on the grass next to each other watching the sun set after a day of pranking ponies. The ponies we pranked didn't take the pranks hardly, In fact they laughed with us about it.

As we looked up at the sky, I rolled my head to Discord with a smile. "I have to admit Discord, that was fun."

Discord then looked at me. "Yeah, even with half my magic gone I can still have tons of fun." He then looked back up at the sky.

I then gave him a curious look. "So what did you mean when you said your name was gone?"

Discord didn't look away from the sky. "Well it works like this; there are hundreds of spirits out there with their own names."

I smirked slightly. "There's more of you?…oh goody."

Discord didn't react. "Anyway, each one has a responsibility and _the spirit of life_ is the one who chooses which spirit gets a curtain responsibility, he's the one who chose me to be the spirit of chaos and disharmony. Before I was chosen, I was the Discord you see now. But after I was chosen, I felt the uncontrollable desire to cause Chaos which turned me into the Discord everypony feared and the one who tried to kill you. Now that the name has been taken away from me I don't feel those desires anymore and I have my free will back."

"So you don't want to kill me anymore?" I asked.

Discord shook his head. "No, but I had no choice. That alicorn threatened to take something very important away from me."

"Yeah and it looks like he did." I said.

Discord's ears lowered slightly. "Actually, to tell the truth…..my name and magic wasn't what he meant."

I gave him another curious look. "Then what were you talking about?"

Discord rolled his head to me. "Matt, can you keep a secret?"

I nodded. "Pinkie swear?" Discord said with a begging look.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." I said as I placed my hoof over my eye.

Discord then took a deep breath. "Ok, he said if I didn't kill you he'd…..kill Celestia."

My eyes widened slightly. "Kill Celestia? But nopony can kill her; she's the most powerful pony in Equestria."

Discord gave me a serious look. "Trust me Matt, I may not remember much about him but he is one bad pony, he is more than a match for Celestia. That's why I had to try and kill you. ….to save Celestia. And when I failed, he decided to spare Celestia and kill me instead. That's why I was under that plank, he left me to die."

I then raised an eye brow. "But you've been trying to overthrow her for years."

"Yes, but I never tried to kill her. That's just barbaric. Anyway, all I want to do with her now is show her that I'm sorry for everything I've done in the past and try to start over." Discord said in an honest voice.

"You really have changed…..haven't you?" I said with slight guilt.

Discord nodded slightly. I then leaned up from the grass with the feeling of guilt flowing through my body. "Great, now I feel like an ass hole." I said while looking down at the grass.

I then turned my head to Discord with a guilty look. "Discord I'm sorry for not believing you, I should have known when you help Applejack and Fluttershy. It's just that I found it hard to believe that somepony whose been bad for so long could change their ways just like that."

Discord then smiled warmly. "You don't have to be sorry Matt; I don't blame you for not trusting me. After all I did try to kill you, to be honest I never expected you to believe me at all."

My ears lowered. "Well….maybe we should start over and try to forget all this?"

Discord then gave me a small smile before he stuck out his lion hand. "Friends?" he said with a kind voice.

I looked up at him and smiled slightly and placing my hoof in his hand before we shook up and down. "Friends." I said back.

We then laid back on the grass and enjoyed the rest of the sun set.

******That night: Library**

Twilight was lying on the bed reading a book while I was pacing back and forth telling her about how much I was wrong about Discord. "I have to admit Twilight; you were right about giving Discord a chance. Now I really believe he's changed."

Twilight looked up from her book and gave me a large smile. "That's great Matt, so you finally feel comfortable with Discord staying here?"

I stopped pacing and looked at her with a smile. "Yep, I feel as though I shouldn't have been so stiff around Discord and should have just accepted the fact that he changed."

Twilight raised an eye brow with the smile still on her face. "So what you're saying is…you learned something today?"

I was completely surprised by the fact that she was right. "Yeah, I guess I did."

Twilight then climbed off the bed and walked up to me. "Then why don't you write this as a friendship report to the Princess? I'm sure she'll be glad to hear it."

My eyes widened in surprise. "You want me to write a friendship report?"

She gave me a sweet look. "Of course Matt, I would be glad to see you write your first report to the Princess."

I smiled nervously. "Well….alright then." I then turned my head to Spike who was standing across the room. "Ready Spike?"

He nodded. "You got it." He then pulled out a quill and paper and prepared to start writing."

I then took a deep breath before I spoke the letter.

"_Dear Princess Celestia._

_Today I learned that you should never hold a grudge. Because holding on to all that hatred and anger can not only hurt others around you, but can also hurt yourself and make you feel really bad. So when somepony who's done something bad to you in the past claims they've changed, you should give them a chance to prove themselves before you disbelieve them. Because you might discover they're telling the truth and make a new friend._

_P.S. I'm pleased to say that Discord is the one who taught me this valuable lesson and that he has finally gained my trust and my friendship._

_Your friend: Matthew."_

Once Spike noticed I was done, he rolled up the letter and burnt it with his fire breath until it became a small cloud of smoke which shot out the window and up to Canterlot.

Twilight then gave me a kiss on the cheek and when she pulled away she gave me a warm smile. "I'm so proud of you Matt."

I smiled back slightly blushing. "Thanks Twi, I wonder what the Princess will think of my report."

At that moment, Spike made a loud burping sound and a small cloud of smoke came out his mouth and formed into a scroll. "Oh, speak of the devil." I said.

Twilight then lifted the scroll up with her magic and unrolled it before reading it.

_Dear Matthew._

_I'm so glad you have learned to except Discord as a friend, but I still need to be more convinced before I can decide what to do with him. Until then, I would like him to remain with you until I can truly trust him._

_Your friend: Princess Celestia._

Twilight then put down the letter and we looked at each other with slightly concerned looks.

Twilight then smiled. "Don't worry, she'll believe Discord eventually."

I smiled as I nodded slightly. "Yeah, looks like he's staying with us for a while anyway. Maybe we can show her that he's changed somehow."

Twilight still smiled before letting out a yawn. "Maybe….but we'll think of a way tomorrow. Right now; it's late and we should get our sleep! Come on." She then turned around a walked back to the bed.

I smiled before following her. "Right behind you, beautiful."

Twilight then climbed on the bed, got under the covers and closed her eyes to go to sleep. I was about to join her but not before looking down stairs to see Discord sleeping in his cloud hammock.

I smiled warmly down at him before climbing into bed with Twilight. I then rested my head on the soft pillow before closing my eyes and let myself drift off into a calm sleep.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	16. Chapter 16: Birth of the Bronies

**I had to change some of the lyrics in the song I used for this chapter.**

**warning: long chapter.**

Chapter 16: Birth of the Bronies 

It's been 3 days since Discord gained my trust and through those days most of the ponies in Ponyville have gotten use to him being around, some of them even say hello to him now and then.

So far, he's getting a good reputation in Ponyville. I just hope that the Princess can notice and finally forgive him for all he's done in the past.

**Ponyville streets**

Jeff was flying through the streets with a bored look on his face. "Man….today is just dull; hope something interesting shows up soon." Jeff thought.

He flew past a poster board where something caught his eye. He then flew back to the board to see what it was.

Once he returned to the board, his eyes widened in amazement at the poster for a talent show. "If that ain't a sign I don't know what is." He said to himself in excitement.

He then grabbed the poster with his beak and tore it off the poster and flew as fast as he could to the café where Me and the others where.

**The Ponyville café **

Me, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Discord were sitting on a large table with each of us having a drink.

Discord looked at his drink and raised his eye brow. "So what do you call this again?" he asked before looking at Twilight

"…..a cup of coffee." Twilight answered awkwardly.

Discord looked back down at his coffee and took a sip, his eyes suddenly shot wide open and he did a spit-take on the ground before fanning his tongue. "WATER! WATER!" He cried.

I quickly gave him my cup of water and he jugged it all down his throat. Once he drunk all the water, he put the cup down and panted heavily. "Ok….that was hot."

"Sorry there Discord, we thought you knew." Applejack said with a sorry look.

Discord raised his talon hand. "It's ok, but what do I do with this coffee? Give it to Pinkie Pie?"

"NOOO." We all yelled with our eyes wide open.

A few minutes later, Rarity walked up to the table with a large cheerful smile on her face. We all looked at her to see she was wearing a sliver necklace and 2 silver hair clips with a gold flower on each of them.

"Wow Rarity, wear did you get that necklace and hair clips." Fluttershy asked with a small smile.

"Aren't they marvellous? My secret admirer sent them to me last night with another lovely poem, I simply adore them." She said as she sat down with us.

Me and Spike gave each other a sly smirk, trying not to let the others see us.

Spike then scooted his chair to get closer to Rarity. "So, it looks like you really like this guy. Huh?"

Rarity looked down at Spike. "I'm not sure. I mean, I haven't even met this colt yet."

"But what if he's not a colt. What if he's something like Errrr….a donkey? Or a Minotaur? Or something completely not pony." Spike asked nervously.

Rarity rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Well, I've never thought about that…..I would have to say it wouldn't matter what he is, because it's not what's on the outside that matters…it's what's on the inside that counts. And through what I've read in his poems, he has a sweet and passionate soul and that's what I'm attracted too."

Spike then had a large smile on his face before scooting his chair back to me. Once he got back to me, I gave him a playful pat on the back before leaning my head down to him. "This is good, now we know that it won't bother her that it's you." I whispered to him

He then raised his head up to mine. "Yeah, just of few more anonymous gifts and I'll try to tell her that it's me." he whispered.

Rainbow Dash noticed us whispering to each other. "And what are you two talking about?" she asked with an eye brow raised.

Me and Spike shot our heads away from each other. "Nothin'." We both said at the same time.

Rainbow Dash gave us a suspicious look before taking a sip of her drink.

A few minutes later, we all heard the sound of flapping getting louder and louder.

We looked in the direction it was coming from and saw Jeff flying towards us with a poster in his beak.

When he was close to us, he was so exhausted that he lost control of his flight pattern and started falling towards the table.

Discord noticed this and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a pillow appeared in a flash of light on the table and Jeff crashed on the soft pillow.

"Jeff, what's up bird?" I said looking down at the panting parrot on the table.

Jeff got up off the pillow in a daze before shaking the daze off and took the poster out his beak. "Guys, guess what I found!" he said in an excited tone.

I looked at the poster he was holding in his wing and raised an eye brow. "An old wrinkly piece of paper?" I said in an unsatisfied tone.

Jeff looked at the poster to see he was holding it the wrong way; he then spun it around to show us it was an advertisement for an upcoming talent show.

"The Ponyville talent show?" I said with a raised eye brow.

"Yeah dude, we should totally enter." Jeff said in an excited tone.

Rainbow Dash let out a small laugh. "And what would be your talent? Flying through hoops? Or seeing how many times you can make a mess on a statue?" she said before she let out another small laugh.

Jeff gave her a sharp look. "No. it's going to be something cool, something we can all do, but what?" Jeff started rubbing under his beak as he paced back and forth.

"How about we perform a magic act." Spike suggested.

Jeff shook his head. "Nah, to obvious." He then continued to pace.

"A flying show?" I suggested.

"Sorry, I did that last year. It wouldn't be as interesting now." Rainbow Dash stated.

Jeff quickened his pacing until he came to a quick stop. "I GOT IT, we can sing…or better yet, we can form a band." He said in an excited tone.

We all looked at him with confused looks. "A band?" Twilight asked.

Jeff turned his head to face her. "Yeah Think about it!...we could make an awesome band."

"Well that does sound like a good idea….but, it's just not my type of thing, ya know!" Applejack confessed.

Rarity nodded in agreement. "I'm afraid I must agree with Applejack. A band is simply not lady like."

"Erh, I just don't want to do it." Rainbow Dash added in an uninterested tone.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Twilight nodded in agreement.

Jeff crossed his wings. "Fine, you girls do what you want. It'll just have to be a boy band instead, with Me, Matt, Spike, Discord and even Peewee."

"Yeah, we're not interested ether." I admitted. Discord and Spike nodded in agreement.

Jeff was about to say something until he came up with an idea. "Ok….looks like there's no convincing you, I just feel bad that Spike won't get to eat all those diamonds." Jeff then had a mischievous grin on his face

Spike suddenly went wide-eyed and leaded closer to Jeff. "What diamonds?"

Jeff then turned his attention to Spike. "Oh yeah, you know the expression _they'll shower you with diamonds_? Well for a band they do it for real. All those fresh….mouth-watering….delicious….diamonds."

Spike was lost in fantasy as his drool made a small puddle on the table, he then snapped back to reality and wiped the drool off his mouth with his arm. "I'm in." he said quickly.

Jeff's gin grew bigger. "And not to mention all the adoring fans who will love us."

Discord suddenly got curious to what Jeff was saying and raised an eye brow. "I'm listening." He said in a curious voice.

Jeff turned his head to face Discord. "Yeah, if you were in a band you would be loved by hundreds…even thousands. And with all those fans, maybe it will attract the Princess' attention and you can show her that you can be trusted."

Discord rubbed his chin with his talon hand while he thought about what Jeff said until he made his decision. "Very well, I'll join your little band."

Jeff had a smirk on his face as he turned to face me.

"Oh no Jeff, I know what you're doing and I'm not going to be pulled into this by your smooth talk like you did with them." I said as I crossed my arms.

"Hey, I was just thinking about creativity. I mean, you're so creative and we could use that in the band. Plus, it would be a shame to put that talented mind of yours to waste, right?" Jeff said in a sly tone.

I then uncrossed my arms and looked at him curiously. "You really think I'm creative?"

Jeff grinned. "Dude, your cutie mark shouldn't even be a game controller. It should be a…whatever a creative cutie mark is."

I then tapped my chin with my hoof before letting out a small sigh. "Alright, I guess I've got nothing to lose anyway."

"Except your dignity and the show itself." A female voice said behind me.

We all looked in the direction the voice came from and our eyes shot wide open in shock to who we saw. "TRIXIE." We all yelled out.

Jeff had a confused look on his face. "Wait! Who's Trixie?"

Trixie then walked towards us. "I'm Trixie, _The great and powerful Trixie_." She said while raising a hoof in the air.

"Also known as, _The not so great and powerful fraud."_ I added.

Trixie huffed at my comment. "Make all the comments you want, I'm still going to show you want a true show is."

"What are you doing here anyway Trixie?" Rainbow Dash asked while glaring at the blue unicorn.

Trixie gave her devious grin. "Oh noting much, I'm just here to win the talent show. And when I do, all of Ponyville will once again see that I am truly great and powerful."

I rolled my eyes. "That will never work."

Trixie came up to me with a glare. "Bet it will and who are you anyway? I didn't see you last time I was here."

"Name's Matthew, I arrived here last month." I said while glaring back.

Trixie raised an eye brow. "Wired name."

"Why does everypony keep saying that?" I thought in an irritated way.

Trixie then turned her attention to Twilight. "Oh, I remember you. The unicorn who bested that Ursa Minor and ran me out of town, Twilight...Is it?" she said with an eye brow raised.

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle. And I didn't run you out of town, I was just trying to protect Ponyville and it would have never happened if you didn't fill everypony's heads with lies." Twilight argued.

Trixie just grunted. "Whatever, you're still going to lose at the show."

Jeff flew up to her face. "Oh no we're not, because you're the one who's gonna lose after we win with our band."

Trixie let out a small laugh. "A band? That's your big performance? Please, that's nothing compared to my act. And I promise it will be something magnificent." She said in a snobby tone.

"Hope it's a disappearing act." I said under my breath.

Trixie glared at me. "I heard that." She snapped.

"You were supposed to." I snapped back.

As Me and Trixie glared sharply at each other, Jeff flew in between us. "Ok let's all just calm it down and settle this at the show. Come on Matt, we're going home!"

Trixie then gave me a smirk. "You should listen to your pet, Matt."

Jeff suddenly went wide-eye and he looked as though he was about to burst in anger. He then looked towards Trixie. "Did you just call me a PET?...I AM NOT A PET." He yelled before shooting towards Trixie.

I quickly grabbed his tail feathers with my mouth to try and hold him back. "Whow Jeff. Calm down bird, she's not worth it." I said through my teeth while Jeff was hopelessly flapping to try and reach Trixie.

After a few seconds, Jeff finally calmed down and I let him go. He then flew onto my back and I turned my head to Twilight. "Come on Twi, we better get back to the library." With that, Twilight got up off her seat and we walked away from the table.

As we walked away, Trixie smirked again. "What? No threat? No confident speech? Fine, just go along home with your pet and your geek of a girlfriend!"

I then stopped in my tracks and gritted my teeth before turning back to face Trixie. "What did you say? Because I couldn't hear you from all the way over there."

Trixie grinned. "I said; go home with your pet and geek of a girlfriend."

At that moment, anger boiled inside me and I pushed my face up to Trixie's. "Listen here ya big fake. You can insult me, you can insult my friend, but when you insult Twilight…that's when I get mad….We are gonna crush you at the show and send you crying home." I yelled.

Trixie raised an eye brow. "Care to make a little wager?"

I gave her a sharp look. "You're on. If we win, you have to admit that you're not as powerful as you say you are and you have to apologise to Twilight."

Trixie nodded in agreement. "And WHEN I win, you have to call me the most powerful and talented unicorn in Ponyville." Trixie then held her hoof out.

I hesitated for a second before I grabbed her hoof and shook it. "Deal." I said while we glared at each other.

I then let go of Trixie's hoof and walked back to Twilight and Jeff before we walked back to the library with Spike and Discord following us.

**Later: The library**

Me, Discord, Peewee and Spike were sitting at the large table in the main room watching Jeff walk back and forth while he was running through the plan.

"Now….the talent show's coming in 2 days, which gives us enough time to at least learn a song for the show. But we need to know who's good at what and where they belong in a band. So….who's good at playing the drums?" Jeff asked as he looked at us.

We all looked at each other; wondering who was going to answer him. Until Discord raised his lion hand. "Emmm, I've had some experience with that kind of activity."

Jeff smiled slightly. "Good, then you can be our drummer. Get on the drum set and show us what you got!"

"Errr Jeff, we don't have and drum set, we don't have any kind of instruments and we're broke so we can't buy any." I said.

Jeff face-wing in frustration. "AH MAN, we forgot to buy instruments, how can we form a band without instruments? You tell me!"

Discord had a grin on his face as he rubbed his chin. "Perhaps, I can be of assistance." With that, he snapped his fingers and with a flash of light, a red drum set with cymbals, a white electric guitar with blue lightning bolts on it, some speakers and some microphones appeared in the middle of the room.

"Alright Discord! Now let's see what you got." Jeff said in delight.

With that, Discord walked up to the drum set and picked up the drum sticks. He then swallowed hard before playing some beats on the drums and so far he was really good. After playing on the drums for a few minutes, he stopped and looked at us to see the surprised look on our faces.

"Dude….that was awesome, you are definitely our drummer." Jeff said in delight.

Discord just smiled and spun the drum sticks around in his fingers.

Jeff then turned around to face the rest of us. "Alright, I think Spike should be our guitarist because he's pretty good with a normal guitar. Plus besides from Discord, he's the only one with fingers and can actually hold that thing. So Spike let's see how you do."

With that, Spike walked up to the electric guitar and picked it up. After a small hesitation, he started playing some notes on the guitar and we were surprised to find out he was better on this guitar then he was on the other one.

After he was done, we all applause for him before Jeff stepped forward. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Now, we need somepony to wright the songs and I think that job should belong to Matt because of his creativity, what do ya say Matt?"

I thought about it for a moment before agreeing to it. "I think I can come up with something."

Jeff's smile grew larger. "Great, you get started and I'll think of something for Peewee to do." With that, I nodded and grabbed some paper and a pen and started wrighting. It was hard because I hand to hold the pen in my mouth.

Jeff examined Peewee for a moment "You're a smart phoenix….you can be our tech guy. You job is simple, you just check the equipment to see if they're all workin' and you can even adjust the lights for the show."

Peewee gave him a confused look. "How do I do that?"

Jeff smirked. "Don't worry, I'll show you the basics." Peewee then smiled and nodded "Ok, I'll do it."

I tuned my head to Jeff with an eye brow raised. "So Jeff, what will you be doing?"

Jeff turned his head to me with a smirk on his face. "Me? I'm gonna be the main singer."

"Why do you get to be the main singer?" I asked.

Jeff crossed his wings and raised his eye brow. "Do you wanna sing?"

"…Yeah, you can sing." I said before going back to wrighting the song.

Jeff then flew back on the table and turned to face all of us. "Ok, we are almost ready to start practising to beat that no good Trixie, all we need now….is a band name."

We all opened our mouths to suggest but we lost our thoughts. "Huuuuuh." We all said as we thought.

Suddenly, an idea came into my head. "Hey Jeff, how about the Bronies?"

Everypony gave me a confused look. "Who or what are Bronies?" Spike asked.

"Bronies are another word for male ponies. In fact, where I came from that was the name given to boys who liked…" I then remembered not to tell them about where I truly came from. "Never mind." I quickly said.

Jeff rubbed the bottom of his beak. "Hmmm, another name for mail ponies huh? Well we are a boy band…and it does sound kinda catchy. Yeah, I like it….from this day forward we shall be known as….the Bronies."

"YEAH." We all yelled out.

"Now let's get to work and crush Trixie!" Jeff yelled before they all got to practising while I wrote.

******2 days later: Talent show**

Today was the day of the talent show and we were all nervous about going up on stage. Discord and Spike had been practising well and have gotten very good. Peewee had learned how to work the lights and was ready to go. It didn't take me long to wright a song; to tell the truth, I just wrote one that I already knew from England and told them that I made it up. Jeff has been practising his singing and we all agreed that he was perfect for the job.

Some acts had already been up. The first was a young male Pegasus trying to spin plates which didn't end well. The second was two female earth ponies playing oboes which were super boring and the last act that was up there was Snips and Snails doing a magic act which ended with Snails eating the carrots again.

Me, Twilight, the guys and the rest of the girls were back stage waiting to go on. "Where the hell is Jeff? We'll be going on any minute and he's still not here." I said as I paced back and forth.

Twilight walked up to me and I stopped pacing. "Matt, calm down! I'm sure he'll be here. After all he started the band, why wouldn't he show up?"

"Because he knows you're gonna lose." A familiar female voice said across the room. We all turned our heads to see Trixie walking up to us.

"I think your pet was right not to show up, this would be embarrassing for him." Trixie said in a snobby tone.

"The only one who's gonna be embarrassed tonight is you." I said while glaring at Trixie.

We then heard Miss Cheerilee's voice on stage. "And now everypony, please give a round of applause too…The great and powerful Trixie." The crowd then cheered before Trixie walked out onto stage with her head up high.

After an hour of watching Trixie's magic act, we all had our mouths hanging at the show we saw. There was fireworks and everything, even a large blue dancing fire hawk.

Trixie then bowed and walked off stage. "Oh, you are toast." Rainbow Dash mumbled.

"What was that, Rainbow?" Discord asked with a raised eye brow. "Oh…nothing." Rainbow Dash said with a sheepish smile.

At the moment, Jeff shot through the curtains and crashed right in front of us. "Jeff…where have you been? We're on next." I said while looking down at him.

He got up and made some sort of wheezing noise. "What's wrong with ya? Are you out of breath or something?" I asked.

Jeff shook his head and pointed in his mouth. We all looked at him with confused faces until Twilight spoke up. "Oh no, I think he's trying to tell us he's lost his voice." Jeff nodded fast.

My eyes widened. "What? But he's the main singer, how are we gonna go up there without a singer?"

Jeff then pointed at me. I didn't know what he was doing at first but then I understood. "ME? You want me to sing, but…I can't sing." I yelled with a frightened look.

"Matt, I don't think we have a choice here." Spike said.

I turned my head to Spike. "No I mean, I really can't sing. I'm a terrible singer." I admitted. I then felt something tapping on my hoof and looked down to see Jeff tapping his beak on my hoof. He then looked up at me with big begging eyes

I then let out a small sigh. "Fine, I'll do it. But don't say I didn't warn ya….that is, when you get your voice back of cause."

Jeff then glared at me before we heard Cheerilee's voice again. "And now, please welcome the new band in Ponyville….The Bronies."

With that, we all walked up on stage. Once we all got into positions, Discord snapped his fingers and the drum set appeared in front of him, the electric guitar appeared in Spike's hands and a microphone on a stand appeared in front of me.

I looked up at the spot lights to see Peewee was ready to begin. I gulped hard before leaning into the mic. "Errr...hello, we are the Bronies and we hope you enjoy our song tonight." I said nervously.

I then nodded to Spike and he started playing some notes on his guitar before Discord tapped his drum sticks together. The then leaned back into the mic and started to sing.

**Me: "**_You're insecure….don't know what for_

_You're turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or_

_Don't need make up….to cover up_

_Being the way that you are is eno-o-ugh."_

**Me and Spike:**_ "Everypony else in the room can see it_

_Everypony else but youuuu."_

**Me, Spike and Discord: "**_Baby you light up my world like nopony else_

_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed _

_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell_

_You don't know (oh oh)_

_You don't know you're beautiful!_

_If only you saw what I can see_

_You'll understand why I want you so desperately_

_Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe_

_You don't know (oh oh)_

_You don't know you're beautiful (oh oh)_

_That's what makes you beautiful."_

Spike then played more notes on the guitar.

**Me: "**_So c-come on_

_You got it wrong_

_To prove I'm right I put you in a so-o-ong."_

**Spike: "**_I don't know why_

_You're being shy_

_And turn away when I look into your eye eye eyes." _

**Me and Spike: "**_Everypony else in the room can see it_

_Everypony else but youuuu."_

**Me, Spike and Discord: "**_Baby you light up my world like nopony else_

_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed _

_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell_

_You don't know (oh oh)_

_You don't know you're beautiful!_

_If only you saw what I can see_

_You'll understand why I want you so desperately_

_Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe_

_You don't know (oh oh)_

_You don't know you're beautiful (oh oh)_

_That's what makes you beautiful_

_Na-na-na-naa-na-na-naaa-na-na_

_Naa-na-na-na-naa-na-na_

_Na-na-na-naa-na-na-naaa-na-na_

_Naa-na-na-na-naa-na-na."_

**Me: "**_Baby you light up my world like nopony else_

_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed _

_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell."_

**Spike and Discord: "**_You don't know (oh oh)"_

**Me, Spike and Discord: "**_You don't know you're beautiful_

_Baby you light up my world like nopony else_

_The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed _

_But when you smile at the ground it ain't hard to tell_

_You don't know (oh oh)_

_You don't know you're beautiful!_

_If only you saw what I can see_

_You'll understand why I want you so desperately_

_Right now I'm looking at you and I can't believe_

_You don't know (oh oh)_

_You don't know you're beautiful (oh oh)_

_You don't know you're beautiful (oh oh)_

_That's what makes you beautiful!"_

The crowd burst into cheers, the sound of hooves stomping the ground filled the air. I looked over to Twilight to see she was stomping her hooves on the floor with a large smile on her face.

Me, Spike and Discord waved to the crowd before walking back stage. Once we were back stage, Twilight wrapped her hooves around the back of my neck and pulled me into a warm hug. "That was incredible; I thought you said you couldn't sing." Twilight said while she hugged me.

"Did you really think I was that good?" I asked. We then broke the hug and Twilight looked me deep in the eyes. "Of cause you were, just listen to that crowd!" Twilight said as she pointed to the stage.

I listened to the crowd and they were cheering like crazy. I couldn't believe that they actually liked my singing that much. I then turned my attention back to Twilight. "Thanks Twi, but they're not just cheering for me. They're cheering for all three of us." I then turned my head to face Spike and Discord to see their smiling faces.

We the heard Cheerilee's voice on stage again. "Ok now the votes are in and the winner is….The Bronies."

"YES." I, Discord and Spike yelled before walking back on stage to the cheering crowd.

Cheerilee then pulled a big gold trophy across the stage and placed it in front of us. Discord then grabbed the trophy by the handles and held it up high while Me and Spike just waved; the cheers from the crowd then grew louder.

An hour after the show, all the crowd had left and Me and the others were standing next to the stage with Twilight and the girls complimenting us on our song.

"That was totally awesome guys." Rainbow Dash said in an excited tone.

"I know right, we rocked the house." Spike said with a big smile on his face.

"Awww, my little Spiky-wiky is a little rock star." Rarity said while rubbing Spike's head.

We all kept talking until we noticed Trixie walk up to us. "Well, I believe you have something to say." I said with a smirk.

Trixie had a frustrated look on her face before letting out a loud sigh. "Fine, I'm not as powerful as I said I was. Happy?"

I raised my eye brow and crossed my hooves. Trixie let out another loud sigh before turning her head to Twilight. "I'm sorry I called you a geek Twilight."

Now that I was satisfied, I smiled and uncrossed my hooves. Trixie then came closer to me. "You may have won now, but you haven't heard the last of the great and powerful Trixie." Trixie then raised her front hooves up and slammed them on the ground; creating a poof of smoke. When the smoke cleared, we saw Trixie running away from us before she disappeared in the distance.

"The girl's a broken record." I said as I watched Trixie run away.

Twilight then giggled at my comment before everypony started laughing. Applejack then let out a large yawn. "I think it's time we hit the hay."

I turned my head to face her. "I hear that AJ. Come on Twi, let's get back to the library." With that, she nodded and we all said our goodnights to everypony.

Me, Twilight, Spike, Jeff, Peewee and Discord then headed back to the library to get some sleep and end the day.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**I hope you're looking forward to the next chapter because I'm going to reveal one of the silhouetted alicorns. Name first, appearance later.**

**the song used in the chapter is call _What makes you beautiful _played by_ One direction. _I do not own any thing. **

**Please remember to review! And next chapter will be up soon. **

**Hey guys, some guy named Rocketman1965 sent me this message, it sounds urgent so please read.**

_Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site._  
_I, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors._  
_For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that (I believe) violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in it's original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable._  
_It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added._  
_If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests._  
_While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation._  
_For those that may agree with this, please fell free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this._

_pass this on to as many people as possible friends writers even random people._

**To be honest, i'm worried that whoever's deleting storys might delete mine.**

**I will be crushed if that happens, please help!**

**But lets just look forward to the next chapter. sorry for the long read.**


	17. Chapter 17: Darkness rises part 1

**To protect this story from being deleted, I change my rating to T rated. But it's still going to be a fun read, trust me.**

**In the song in this chapter, I had to change some of the lyrics so they'd match the story.**

**I would like to thank **_**Najee**_** for suggesting I change my rating because he may have saved my story.**

Chapter 17: Darkness rises (part 1)

**Far away dark mountains**

One of the silhouetted alicorns was on his throne looking down at the other three who were kneeling before him. The three alicorns then rose up to hear what the other alicorn had to say.

"Brothers…sister….as we all know, the boy know as Matthew has interfered with our plans too many time. That is why I have come up with a decision. It is a risky one, but desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm sending one of you to Ponyville tonight to drive that foolish boy out of there so we can take Canterlot." The alicorns dark voice said.

The other three alicorns looked at each other and then back to the alicorn on the throne.

The alicorn the looked down at one of the male alicorns. "_Thorn_...everypony in Ponyville will be gathering around to watch the comets tonight….you are going to crash that party." The alicorn said darkly.

"Yes Brother, I will prepare myself for it." The alicorn (now known as Thorn) said before turning around and walked towards the entrance to the next room.

The alicorn got off his throne and walked down the small set of stairs and then towards Thorn. "Wait Thorn!...You can't just go there and force him to leave…otherwise he would come back. You must make him leave by his own decision."

Thorn raised an eye brow. "How do I do that?...scare him off?"

The alicorn shook his head. "No, there's an easier way…You see, I know that Matthew carries a great secret and we can use it as a weapon to turn all of Ponyville against him." He said darkly.

"And what is this….secret?" Thorn asked in a curious tone.

The alicorn then grinned evilly.

**Meanwhile: Ponyville library**

Discord was in the bathroom in front of the mirror with three combs hovering in in the air while they were combing his main, eye brows and beard while he was brushing his teeth. Not to mention the nervous look on his face.

I walked past the bathroom with Jeff on my back and caught sight of Discord in the corner of our eyes. I then walked backwards back to the bathroom entrance and we both watched Discord with confused looks.

I then entered the bathroom and stood behind Discord. "Hey Discord, what'cha doin'?" I asked.

Discord yelled as he spun around fast. "Oh Matt, it's just you….I'm getting ready for tonight." Discord then turned around back to the mirror.

"Why? You got a date?" Jeff asked with a smirk on his face.

"No, Princess Celestia is coming to the comets tonight and I want to make a good impression to show her that I've truly changed." Discord said before he poured mouth-wash in his mouth and swilled it around.

Jeff's smirk grew bigger. "So it is a date."

Discord's eyes shot wide open before he did a spit-take and got mouth wash all over the mirror. He choked for a moment before turning around to face us. "What?...don't be absurd, why would the princess go on a date with me? She hates me."

"She doesn't hate you, she just….don't trust you, but we're gonna change that tonight." I said; trying to build his confidence.

Discord crossed his arms. "And how do you suppose we do that?...say please?"

"Not exactly, we just need to find a way to prove to her that you've changed. The question is how." I said as I tapped my chin with my hoof.

Jeff then crossed his wings while he had a sly look on his face "I think I can help with that." He then flew up to the window and opened it.

"Where you goin'?" I asked as I walked towards him.

Jeff turned his head to face me. "I'm gonna call in an old friend to help Discord, you just go hang out with Twilight and Discord will stay here until I come back."

Me and Discord looked at each other before looking back at Jeff and nodded in agreement. Jeff then flew out the window; I looked out the window to see that he was flying up towards Canterlot.

"Wonder what he's up too." I thought before walking out the bathroom; leaving Discord alone to prepare.

**That night: Ponyville streets**

Everypony in town was excited for the show and they were galloping to the open field to get a good spot to view the show.

Me, Twilight and Spike with Peewee on his shoulder were calmly walking towards the field. We were excited for the show too, but we just liked walking together.

As we were walking, two female pegasi came up in front of us, one was light blue with a dark blue mane and the other was yellow with a pink mane. They both had an excited look on their faces. I raised an eye brow. "Can we help you?"

The two pegasi let out a small scream. "Oh my gosh, he spoke to us." The blue Pegasus said while she looked at her friend.

"I know, right?" the yellow Pegasus said. I was getting rather confused.

The blue Pegasus looked back at me. "Anyway, we saw you and your band play at the talent show the other day and you were all SO cool. Can we get your autograph?"

The blue Pegasus then reached into her saddle bag and pulled out a sheet of paper and an ink pad and placed them on the ground in front of me.

I raised my hoof and pushed it down on the ink pad before lifting it off and pushed it down on the paper. When I lifted my hoof, there was an ink hoof print on the paper and the two pegasi's smiles grew larger.

The yellow Pegasus then looked towards Spike and Peewee. "Oh look! It's that adorable dragon who was playing the guitar, can we get your autograph too?" she said in an excited voice.

Spike then walked up to the paper and ink pad. He then pushed his hand on the ink pad before lifting it off the ink pad and pushed it down on the paper, when he lifted his hand, there was an ink hand print on the paper.

Peewee then raised his wing. "I was in the band too."

The yellow Pegasus raised her eye brow. "I didn't see you up on stage."

"Oh, I was doing the lights." Peewee said before giving them a sheepish smile.

The two pegasi looked at each other before looking back at Peewee. "Fine." They both said at the same time.

Peewee then flew down from Spike's shoulder and did the same as what we did; only he used his foot so it left an ink bird foot print on the paper.

The blue Pegasus then started looking around us before looking back at me. "Where's Discord?" she asked in a curious voice.

"He'll be coming down soon, he's just getting ready." I said.

The blue Pegasus smile. "Ok, well see ya. We're looking forward to your next show." She and he friend then turned around and started following the other ponies to the field.

We then continued to walk towards the field. As we walked, Twilight was looking at me with a smirk on her face. I saw her in the corner of my eye and I turned my head to face her. "What?" I asked with a smile.

"Looks like somepony's starting to become famous." Twilight said.

I gave her a concerned look. "Does it bother you? Because if it does, I can try and get them to stop."

Twilight shook her head. "You don't have to do that, I think it's pretty exciting that you're a singer now."

My ears lowered as I frowned. "Oh….so…you like me more because I'm a singer?"

Twilight looked at me in shock. "Matt, why would you think such a thing? I like you for you….not because you're a singer. I liked you before you were a singer and even if you weren't I'd still like you. I want you to promise me that you'll never think something like that again."

I gave her a small smile. "I promise, can you forgive me?"

She gave me a warm smile. "I already have….ya big green handsome lump." She said playfully.

I gave her a warm smile before I turned my attention back on the track to the field.

Once we reached to field, we found an open spot and we sat down in it by each other's side. Spike and Peewee saw us together and decided to give us some privacy before walking off to find somewhere else to sit.

I felt a lump in my throat as I thought about how good Twilight's been to me and how I felt about her. I turned my head slowly to see Twilight was looking up at the sky; waiting for the comets to come.

"Errr….Twi." I said quietly. She turned her head to face me and her sparkling eyes met mine. "Yeah Matt."

I then took her right hoof in my hoof and we looked deep into each other's eyes. "Twi….you know that I like you a lot and well…..I need to tell you something…..something important."

"Yes?" Twilight said as a smile grew on her face.

I gulped hard. "Well Twi…..I…errr….I.." She was waiting for me to say it before something caught her eye.

"Matt, look!" she said as she pointed her hoof; telling me to turn around. I turned around to see that Celestia had arrived.

"Come on! Let's go see her." Twilight said before she took her hoof away from mine and walked past me.

When she was far enough away, I stomped my hoof on the ground. "Idiot, you left it too late. Why can you not just spit it out?" I whispered to myself.

Twilight looked back at me. "Are you coming?" she asked.

I nodded and got up to follow her to see Celestia. Once we were close enough, Celestia noticed us and smiled. "Twilight, Matthew, I figured you two would be here."

"You figured correctly, your highness." I said with a smirk.

Celestia giggled at my response. "Well I can certainly tell that you're in a good mood tonight, which is good because I want to introduce you to somepony."

I tilted my head. "Really?...Who?"

"Matthew, may I present my sister…_Princess Luna_." Celestia said before she stepped to aside to reveal Luna (Who had the same appearance as she did in _Luna Eclipsed)_.

Twilight smiled in surprisement. "Princess Luna, I haven't seen you since Nightmare Night."

Luna walked up to us. "Yes, I would have come back sooner but I've had to remain in solitude for some time now."

Twilight had a confused look on her face. "Why? What's happened?"

"There has been a threat made against me, I fear that somepony out there is trying to steal my magic to control the night for themselves. With my sister here, this is the only time I have to come out before going back into hiding." Luna explained.

"Why not just fight whoever it is off?" Twilight asked.

"I may be a princess but I'm not as strong as my sister. Plus, I've already tried brutal force, I once got a message from this mysterious pony and I sent three of my best guards after him." Luna said.

Twilight moved closer to her. "And then what? Did they return?"

"In a way, yes….but they didn't return to my castle; I was told they had been sent to the hospital so I rushed over there to see what condition they were in, they were gravely injured. Two of them died and the other is too shook up to tell me what happened. Every time I ask him, he freaks out and starts babbling about some sort of monster." Luna explained with her ears hanging low.

I was shock by this news. "Whow, whatever attacked them must have been one bad ass."

Luna looked at me and raised an eye brow. Twilight then came up beside me. "Oh yeah. Luna, this is Matthew. He's my coltfriend."

Luna then came up to me as well. "So this is the Matthew my sister has been telling me so much about in her letters. You have certainly gained a great reputation while you've been living in Ponyville…..despite your weird name."

"Again with the name." I thought while I just nodded my head with a smile.

"So….if you're Twilight Sparkle's coltfriend, then I have just one thing to asked." Luna said as she moved her face up to mine.

"Yeah." I said nervously.

Luna then had a small smile on her face. "Do you have a brother?"

Once I realized where she was going with this, I chuckled. "No sorry, just a sister and she's very VERY far away."

Luna frowned slightly. "Dang."

"So Princess, have you come to watch the comets with us?" Twilight asked.

Luna turned her head to face her. "Yes, but I'm also here to see if these rumours about Discord claiming to have turned over a new leaf were true."

"Where is he anyway?" Celestia asked with a curious voice.

I looked around for him but couldn't see him. "He said he'd be here. He's been stressin' out about coming here though."

Celestia raised an eye brow. "Stressing about what?"

I rubbed the back of my neck with my hoof. "Well….he's been really nervous about seeing you again because he wants to prove to you that he's changed."

"I didn't think he would get that nervous about it." Celestia said in a calming voice.

"Yeah, but he can't prove he's changed if he doesn't show up." Luna said.

"Ok, if he doesn't show up in the next few minutes I'm gonna go look for-" I was cut off from my sentence by the sound of some sort of music.

We all looked in the direction it was coming from and saw a crowd of ponies before we walked towards them. Once we got to them, we made our way to the front of the crowd and were surprised to see Sapphire Shores with Jeff on her back and some female pop ponies behind her.

"Good evening my little ponies, and welcome to the midnight comet show. Now I'd like to present…the new friend to all ponies, DISCORD." Sapphire called out to everypony

"HIT IT!" Jeff yelled before the music changed to a different track.

As the music was playing, Discord appeared in the streets in a flash of light. He breathed in the fresh air and exhaled before walking towards us. Sapphire and her female backup singers then started singing.

**Sapphire Shores: **_"See him walkin' down the street (ho) with a merry gleam in his eyes (ho)_

_He's loved by everypony in this town (he's loved by this town)_

_Look at him now; you'd never know he was once the kind of guy (ho)_

_Who tried to bring an empire down (an empire down)_

_He lost his groove, he lost his way_

_When he fell in with an alicorn (yeah)_

_Who wanted to take over the world (take over the world)_

_But then he did a full 1-80_

_Said vamoose to the shady pony_

_Now he'll teach your kids to talk like a squirrel." _

**Discord: **"Squeakity, squeaken."

**Cutie mark crusaders: "**Squeak, squeak, squeaken."

**Sapphire Shores: "**_And though he spread such joy (such joy) _

_Everywhere he goes _

_Looks like this town's fly guy_

_Will be the last to know."_

A group of ponies then joined Discord and Sapphire and started dancing in the same rhythm as they were. Celestia was tapping her hoof along with the music.

**Sapphire and backup singers: "**_There is nothing to prove _

_Don't have to approve_

_The way that you move_

_Don't have to be smart, or be rich, or be smooth (don't have to be)_

_Don't have to make art_

_That could hang in the louvre_

_If you just go with your heart_

_Then you'll be true to your groove (true to your groove, true to your groove)_

_Oh, you should be true to your groove (true to your groove, true to your groove)_

_Oh, you should be true to your groove (true to your groove, true to your groove)_

_Yeah, you should be true to your."_

**Sapphire shores: "**_Oh, you should be true to your groove."_

The crowd cheered as they gathered around Discord and started cheering his name.

Celestia then walked up the crowd; which then separated to allow Celestia to reach Discord. Once Celestia was in front of Discord, she gave him a small smile. "Well Discord, I see you have made a lot of progress since I last saw you. Next thing you know, ponies will be asking you for your autograph."

At the moment, the two female pegasi walked up to Discord. "Discord, can we get your autograph?" the blue Pegasus asked in an excited tone before she pulled out the sheet of paper with our prints on it.

Discord smiled, snapped his fingers and with a small flash of light a quill appeared in his talon hand. He the leaned over and wrote a fancy written D on the sheet.

"Thanks." The yellow Pegasus said as her friend put the paper back in her saddle bag and they both walked away; finally satisfied.

Celestia looked back at Discord to see the smirk on his face. "Well that was ironic. Anyway Discord, after seeing all this excitement over you I finally see that you have changed and I've also received word that you haven't caused any type of chaos since you started living with Twilight and Matthew; which has resulted to many ponies being able to trust you…and if they trust you,… then so can I."

Discord then had a large smile on his face. "Thank you Cele….I mean, Princess." He said as he bowed slightly.

Celestia then tapped her chin with her hoof. "Discord….would you mind joining me to watch the comet show?"

Discord's smile grew bigger. "I'd be delighted, Princess."

"Please…call me Celestia." She said as they both walked to the field to find a nice spot to watch the show.

Meanwhile, Jeff came up to Me and Twilight. "So…what'd ya think?" he said with a smirk on his face.

"How did you get Sapphire Shores to perform for Discord?" I asked curiously.

"Me and Sapphire go way back, she owed me one after I saved one of her shows by singing for her when she had a saw throat." Jeff explained. "Now, where are we sittin'?"

"Well actually Jeff, I was hoping you would sit with Spike and Peewee while Me and Twilight have some privacy."

"Oh….ok…well, I'll see you two later." Jeff said as he took off into the air and flew towards Spike and Peewee's spot.

Me and Twilight then headed back to our spot.

14 minutes later, everypony in Ponyville was sitting on their own blankets in the field waiting for the comets to come. Me and Twilight were sitting on our blanket looking up at the sky.

I took the spare time I had before the show to look around the field. On my right, I saw the rest of the main 6 sharing a single blanket and Spike, Jeff and Peewee on a blanket next to them. I then turned to my left to see Celestia sitting between Discord and Luna.

Suddenly, a light in the sky caught my eye and I looked up to see the comets were starting to shoot through the night sky.

As more comets were shooting by, Twilight rested her head on my shoulder while still looking up at the show. "So, what was it you wanted to say before Matt?" she asked quietly.

I then remembered what I was going to tell her before and bit my bottom lip. "Twi…I want you to look me in the eyes when I say this!"

Twilight then lifted her head off my shoulder and we looked into each other's eyes. "Twi….I want to tell you that I….I….I lo-" I couldn't finish my sentence as a large bolt of black fire suddenly burst from the ground a few feet in front of us.

Everypony got up in fright from the bolt of fire. The heat from it was so intense that it caused us to take a few steps back, Twilight covered her face with her right hoof and I was covering my face with my wing.

When I felt the heat die down, I lifted my wing off my eyes and was shocked at what I saw. It was an alicorn but this time I could see him clearly.

He was a large black alicorn (slightly taller than Celestia) with glowing red eyes, large black feathered wings and a long sharp horn. He had a sliver metal armoured vest covering the front half of his body and his front legs had silver metal greaves with spikes on them. His mane and tail were formed completely out of black flames mixed with small white flames and his cutie mark was a white ball of fire with a black crown in the middle.

We all had terrified looks on our faces as we backed away from the black alicorn.

The alicorn then chuckled darkly. "Well, isn't this a lovely sight? The beautiful comets….the cool night breeze….everypony all wrapped up in the warmth of their loved ones…..it all makes me want to incinerate every last one of you and reduce this entire town to rubble. Lucky for you all, you have been proven to be useful in my plan to bring about the new age….with a new ruler."

Celestia stepped forward. "You'll have to deal with me first." She said with a glare in her eyes.

The alicorn turned his head in her direction. "Oh….Princess Celestia!...it is an honour to finally meet you. Allow me to introduce myself! I am _Thorn, the alicorn of darkness_ and I regret to say that your rule has come to an end." Thorn said as he smiled evilly.

"My sister's rule will never come to an end." Luna protested in anger.

Thorn raised an eye brow. "Ah, Princess Luna….or is it Nightmare Moon? I forget, Hahahaha."

Luna growled at what he had said.

Thorn then started to walk towards the two Princesses. "To be truthful Luna, I do admire you the most….especially due to your power over the night and the moon itself."

Luna's eyes widened in shock. "It was you….you're the one who's been trying to steal my magic….you're the one who killed my guards."

Thorn stopped a few feet away from them "Only the first one was right. I had nothing to do with the death of your guards. But I do know who did it."

"Who did it?" Luna demanded.

Thorn grinned. "That's my little secret."

Celestia stomped a hoof on the ground. "What is it that you want Thorn?" she growled.

"What do I want? Well that's very simple, EQUESTRIA. Now it's your choice….remove yourself from the throne…or I'll remove you myself. " Thorn said with a glare.

Celestia spread her wings out. "I will not let you take Equestria for your selfish dark desires." She said in a confident tone.

Thorn growled in anger. "Fine, have it your way." Suddenly, Thorn quickly pointed his horn in Celestia's direction and shot out a bolt of black lightning towards her.

Celestia found herself caught off guard and couldn't pull out a spell fast enough to stop it, so she shielded her face with her wing and waited for the blow to come. As the bolt was about to hit Celestia, Discord pushed her out the way; causing her to collapse to the ground and the bolt of lightning hit him instead.

Discord yelled in pain as the black electricity flowed through his body. Once it stopped, Discord fell backwards to the ground with a hard thud.

"DISCORD." I yelled out before we all galloped over to him. Celestia picked herself up off the ground and galloped over to Discord. Once she reached him, she lowered herself down to him and put her ear against his chest.

"Princess….is…is he-" I tried to say in a worried tone. Celestia then exhaled in relief. "No…he's still alive, just barely…his heart beat is slow."

I tuned my head to Thorn to see his ginning face and then turned it back to face Celestia. "Princess…you and Luna take Discord back to the castle to try and heal him; we'll take care of this guy." I said with a serious face.

Celestia looked down at the unconscious Discord and nodded in agreement. Her horn then glowed yellow and she, Luna and Discord disappeared in a flash of light.

Me, Twilight, Jeff, Spike, Peewee and the rest of the main 6 then turned our attention to Thorn. "You're gonna pay for doing that you bastard." I growled in anger.

Thorn's grin grew bigger. "Ah, Matthew….we meet again."

I raised an eye brow. "What do you mean? I've never met you before."

Thorn took a few steps closer. "Oh but we have, remember? We first met at the castle."

Suddenly, I knew what he was talking about and my eyes grew. "It was you….you're the alicorn that hypnotized me…you force me to fight my friends…you're the one who overpowered the Elements."

"And the one who started the main hall fire and tried to kill Discord in the process." Thorn added.

I glared at him again. "I was wondering how that fire started. But that's enough talk, let's just get this over so we can see if Discord's ok."

Twilight and the others nodded before they joined at my side.

Thorn the started laughing quietly but his laughter grew louder each second. "Haha, I wouldn't do that if I were you…. I know your secret Matthew…your deepest secret."

I suddenly got nervous. "I…I don't know what you're talking about."

Thorn then walked up to me. "I think you know exactly what I'm talking about. Don't you?"

"Matt, what does he mean?" Applejack asked.

Thorn smirked. "What?...they don't know? Hahaha, go on! Tell them."

I remained silent as I looked up into his blood red eye until I frowned and hung my head. "You didn't do any of those things you said….you're not from Manehatten; you're not even from Equestria, ARE YOU?" Thorn yelled loud enough for everypony to hear.

"No." I said quietly. "What was that? I don't think we heard you." Thorn said.

"No." I said loud enough for everypony to hear and they all gave me confused faces.

"It looks like they want an explanation….so give them one." Thorn demanded. I remained silent.

Thorn glared down at me. "Fine, I'll just have to force it out of you." With that, his horn glowed white and I suddenly heard somepony screaming behind me. I turned around to see Twilight was glowing white while lying on the ground screaming in pain while the others were trying to help her.

My eyes widened in horror before I turned my head back to Thorn. "No…ok, I'll tell them…just, please let her go." I cried.

Thorn's grin returned as his horn stopped glowing and the glow disappeared from Twilight and she stopped screaming but was breathing heavily.

I tried to gallop too her but I felt myself lift off the ground until I was hovering in the air. I looked back at Thorn to see his horn was glowing again. "TELL THEM." Thorn yelled.

As I hovered in the air, I looked around at everypony to see that they were looking at me with suspicious looks on their faces; even Jeff, Spike, Peewee and the rest of the main 6 were giving me suspicious looks while they were helping Twilight.

I finally gave in and hung my head. "I'm not a real pony….I'm not from Equestria…everything I said about my past was a lie…I'm…I'm actually a creature call a human, they're hairless, intelligent creatures that walk on two legs….they're just like you only they do things a lot differently in their lives then you do…I was brought here by some sort of vortex and as I was being suck through it, I was turned into a pony and a few weeks ago the Princess made me a pony permanently….and I lied to you all ever since we met." A tear then ran down my cheek.

"And your girlfriend knew of this?" Thorn asked while looking at Twilight.

"No, she didn't." I said hoping he'd believe me.

"YOU'RE LYING AGAIN, tell the truth!" Thorn yelled

I turned my head to face him. "I am, she doesn't know anything." Thorn then pulled me closer to him and smacked me across the face with is hoof.

"THE TRUTH." Thorn demanded. I shook my head and he pulled his hoof back again.

Twilight quickly stepped forward. "Yes, I did know. Please don't hurt him." She begged.

My eyes widened. "TWILIGHT NO. I don't want you to lose your friends too"

Thorn then looked back up to me. "You lied to your friends and then made your girlfriend lie to them. You're nothing but a fake and a coward."

I let my head hang lower. "Now listen you little runt! You have no friends anymore….nopony here wants you around now that they know what you really are. So you might as well just leave and if I see you in this town again you'll see how cruel I can really be." Thorn yelled before he slammed me on the ground.

I picked myself up off the ground and looked around at all the shocked and devastated faces around me. With my head hanging, I walked towards Twilight and the others.

Once I reached them, I looked up to see their devastated faces with tears in their eyes. I then looked at Twilight who had tears pouring down her face. "Twilight….I….I'm so sorry." I then turned my head to the rest of them. "I'm sorry to all of you."

I then walked passed them and started walking down the road to leave Ponyville with tears pouring down my cheeks.

Twilight and the others watched me go until I was out of sight. "We can't just let him go like this, not after everything we've been through and all he's done for us." Twilight said.

Applejack turned her head to her. "I know." She said quietly.

"Then by all means, let's go after him." Rarity said. Jeff, Spike, Peewee and the rest of the main 6 nodded in agreement.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that." Thorn's voice said from behind them. They turned around to see Thorn hovering in the air.

"If you go…you'll miss the MAIN EVENT." Thorn yelled before his eyes glowed brighter.

Twilight looked around to see that everypony's eyes were turning as red as his. "Quick, cover your eyes." She said as she covered her eyes with her hoof. The rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff and Peewee then did the same.

After a few minutes, Twilight and the others removed their hooves, hands and wing from their eyes to see the horror before them.

Everypony in Ponyville was under Thorn's mind control spell with the eyes blood red. "Hahahaha, glorious isn't it? And pretty soon…Celestia will fall by the hooves of her own subjects and Equestria will be MINE. HAHAHAHAHA." As Thorn laughed evilly, the mind controlled ponies join in with the evil laugh.

Twilight and the others had the same horrified expression on their faces.

To be continued 

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**The song used in this chapter is call **_**be true to your groove**_** from the Disney movie **_**Kronk's new groove**_**. I do not own anything.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	18. Chapter 18: Darkness rises part 2

**I am so very sorry for the long wait; I hate it when I take too long. I don't want any of you to think I'm giving up because I'm not.**

**I would also like to apologise for any bad grammar that may have been on my previous chapters. It may be because I'm British and the laptop I'm using may have a British spell check. So that may be why some of the words are miss-spelt or it may just be me. I don't know.**

**Enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 18: Darkness rises (part 2)

Twilight, Spike, Jeff, Peewee and the rest of the main 6 backed away as the mind controlled ponies approached them. Thorn was still laughing evilly as he hovered above his new army.

Thorn then looked down at Twilight and the others "Why so frightened? You're going to be part of something marvellous…the end of Celestia and the birth of the new age of darkness. Imagine the look on Celestia's face when her most faithful student and her friends burst into her throne room and attack her…..oh, it'll be priceless. Hahaha."

Twilight and the others gasped in horror before turning around and galloped away.

"GET THEM!" Thorn commanded before three earth ponies galloped after them.

As Twilight and the others were galloping through the streets of Ponyville, Rarity turned her head around to see the three red eyed ponies chasing them. Rarity gasped before turning her head back around. "We seem to have a problem."

As they kept galloping, Jeff saw a wagon full of apples up ahead and got an idea. "Peewee, you're with me, come on!" Jeff said before he and Peewee flew on ahead of the others and landed behind the wagon.

After Twilight and the others galloped passed the wagon, Jeff and Peewee use every ounce of their strength to lift up the side of the wagon until it tipped over and spilled apples all over the ground.

As the three ponies galloped through the apple covered ground, they stepped on a few of the apples and lost their balance which ended with them falling to the ground with hard thuds.

"Yeah, don't mess with the birds." Jeff cheered before he and Peewee followed Twilight and the others. After Jeff and Peewee caught up with them, they all headed for Sweet Apple Arches.

Meanwhile, the three ponies got up off the ground and continued to chase them.

**Sweet Apple Arches**

After a short gallop, they reached the farm and jumped into a hay stack to hide in. "Do we really need to hide in this filthy hay stack? What's wrong with the barn?" Rarity asked.

"Because, that's the first place they'll check." Applejack answered in a slightly irritated tine.

"Still, we could have found something more suitable to hide in." Rarity said. Applejack gave her an annoyed look "Then why don'cha just get out and find somewhere else to hide?" she snapped.

Rarity gave her an angry look. "Well I nev-" Rarity was cut off by Twilight covering her mouth with her hoof. "Shshsh, I hear something." She whispered.

Twilight then looked through the hey with one eye to see the three ponies entering the farm. "Oh no, they're out there…we're trapped." Twilight whispered.

They all looked at each other with worried faces until Spike had an idea to get rid of the ponies. He got out from the back of the hay stack (so the ponies couldn't see him) before he looked around on the ground until he found a rock.

Spike then picked up the rock and threw it towards the bar. The rock hit the barn; creating a loud bag noise which got the three ponies' attention. The three ponies then galloped towards the barn to investigate; allowing Twilight and the others to quietly step out of the hay stack and gallop back to Ponyville without being seen.

**Ponyville streets**

After a long gallop, Twilight and the others finally came to a stop behind one of the houses and tried to catch their breath

Applejack looked down at Spike. "That….was some pretty smart….thinkin' back there Spike." She said between breaths with a smile.

Spike looked up to her. "Thanks." He said while panting.

Jeff finally caught his breath and stepped forward. "Ok, is everypony here?" he then looked around at everypony. "Ok, we've got…Applejack, Pinkie pie, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Spike, Peewee and…..wait!...where's Twilight?"

Everypony looked around for her but couldn't find her. Applejack then walked around the house and to the streets of Ponyville before looking around for Twilight.

She was then surprised to see Twilight galloping down the street towards the dirt road. Spike, Jeff, Peewee and the rest of the main 6 then walked up beside Applejack and also saw Twilight galloping away before they all sprung off after her.

As they were galloping after Twilight, Rainbow Dash flew ahead of the others through the air before finally catching up with Twilight and landed in front of her; causing Twilight to skid to a stop.

"Where are you going?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight gave her a serious look. "I'm going to find Matt." At that moment, the others finally caught up to them.

"But…he's probably already left Ponyville. Who knows where he could be by now." Fluttershy said as she walked up beside Twilight.

Twilight then continued to walk to the dirt road. "I don't care if I have to search all of Equestria…I'm gonna find him."

Rainbow Dash then pounced in front of Twilight; causing her to stop again. "Why are you so eager to go after him?" Rainbow Dash asked in a slightly aggressive tone.

"Because, he's my coltfriend and I care about him…and he cares about us." Twilight answered.

"Oh yeah?...well if he cares about us so much why did he lie to us and why is he leaving?" Rainbow Dash said with a slight glare.

"He lied to us because he thought that if we all knew what he really was, we wouldn't like him…and the only reason he's leaving is because he thinks everypony hates him for not being honest." Twilight explained with tears forming in her eyes.

Everypony then looked at each other before looking back at Twilight. "I can't lose him….I just can't." Twilight said with her head hanging and a single tear tripping off her face.

Applejack then walked up to Twilight and placed her hoof on her shoulder. Twilight turned her head to see Applejack had a sweet smile on her face. "Does he really mean that much to ya sugar cube?" Twilight slowly nodded.

Applejack's smile grew. "Alright then…we're gonna go after him and bring him back." She said in a confident tone.

Everypony accepted Rainbow nodded in agreement. Rainbow Dash then crossed her hooves. "Fine…he's just lucky he's cool."

Twilight then had tears in her eyes as a large smile came on her face. "Thank you….thank you all so much."

Rarity then walked up to her. "Your quite welcome darling. Now come on! We have to catch up with Matt." With that, they all galloped towards the dirt road leading out of Ponyville.

**Meanwhile: field outside of Ponyville**

All the ponies just stood in rows while Thorn looked upon them. "Glorious….just glorious." He said with an evil smile.

The three ponies then entered back into the field and bowed to Thorn. "They got away?" Thorn said while still looking at his army.

"We are afraid so…lord Thorn." One of the ponies said while looking up at Thorn.

Thorn then looked down at them and growled as his horn began to glow. The three ponies were then lifted off the ground and were sent flying backwards until they crashed to the ground; knocking them all unconscious.

"Idiots….no matter; those ponies will never stop me. Oh, they can try but they will fail." Thorn said to himself before turning his attention to his army.

"My minions….the time has come for Celestia to fall and for me to rise. Quickly!..To Canterlot." Thorn yelled out to the hypnotized ponies before they all started marching into town with Thorn leading the way.

**Meanwhile: On the road out of Ponyville**

Liar….traitor….fake….coward. These were all the word running through my mind as I walked away from Ponyville with tears pouring down my face. The further I got away from Ponyville the more I felt my heart break.

"I just lost everything…my friends…my new home...even the only girl I ever loved….and it's all because I was too much of a coward to tell them the truth. I just wish I could see Twilight one more time….look deep into her beautiful eyes….and tell her straight up how I feel about her." I thought as I slowly kept walking.

"MATT." A familiar voice yelled from behind me. I turned around to see Twilight galloping up the road.

"Twilight?" I said as I squinted my eyes to see her better in the distance. When Twilight finally reached me, she was hanging her head while breathing heavily.

Twilight then pulled her head up and looked me deep in my eyes. "Matt….please….don't go." She said between breaths with begging eyes.

"Twilight, did you not see what happened back there?...everypony knows and I can tell by the looks on their faces that they all hate me now….they'll never forgive me." I said in an upset tone with my ears down.

More tears started forming in my eyes before I hung my head. "You deserve better than me Twilight….I'm nothing but a lying fake…a disgrace to ponies everywhere." I then felt Twilight place her hoof under my chin before she raised my head back up so she could look in my eyes.

"You're not a disgrace, you're a caring and loving pony….and even if I searched all of Equestria for a hundred years, I'd never find anypony better than you. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me Matt." She said with a sweet smile while a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Really?" I said quietly.

"Really." She said back before she leaned her head towards me, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips against mine. I then closed my eyes and started kissing back.

After a few seconds, we broke the kiss and smiled warmly at each other. I then wiped the tear gently off her face with my hoof as we continued to stare into each other's eyes.

At that moment, Spike, Jeff, Peewee and the rest of the main 6 finally reached us. They all had sweet smiles on their faces once they saw Me and Twilight staring dreamily at each other. "Awww, aren't they just adorable together?" Rarity said sweetly.

Me and Twilight snapped out of our trance and turned to look at them. I then felt a cold shiver run down my spine as I feared that they were here to say they would never forgive me for lying to them for. I then felt a hoof on my shoulder and turned my head to see Twilight's sweet smile.

I then took a deep breath before I walked up to the others. I looked at them all to see they were waiting for me to speak. There was a moment silence before I decided to break it. "What are you guy's doin' here?"

"We're here to tell you that you don't have to go." Fluttershy said.

I was slightly surprised that they didn't want me to go. "But…I lied to you all about everything…how can you not hate me?" I said with my ears slightly low.

"How could we hate you darling?" Rarity said in her sweetest voice.

"Because Thorn was right….I'm nothing but a fake and a coward….I don't deserve your friendship." I said with my ears hanging low.

Applejack stomped her hoof down on the ground. "Now that's not true sugar cube. He just said all those things to get in your head."

"You really shouldn't bring yourself down like that sweetie. Think of how much good you've done for Ponyville!" Rarity said.

"Like what?" I said in a depressed tone.

"Like your job. Nopony I know can deliver apple supplies as good as you can…and let's not forget how you took that manticore." Applejack said.

Jeff then flew onto my back and I turned my around head to face him. "Yeah, and If it weren't for you I'd probably still be in that cage with that Analog guy. You basically saved my life."

"And Discord would still have control over the castle if you hadn't stood up to him and you helped Discord prove to everypony that he's changed." Fluttershy said with a small smile.

"And you helped me become more confident. If it weren't for you, I would've never had the guts to….you know!" Spike whispered but everypony still heard him.

Rainbow Dash looked down at him. "Had the guts to do what?" she asked with a raised eye row.

Spike blushed until his face was completely red. "Errr…..nothing."

Rainbow Dash gave him a surreptitious look before looking back at me.

"And most importantly, you came to Twilight when she felt lonely and you changed her world for the better…and if that's not good, I don't know what is." Rarity said with a sweet smile.

I then turned my head to see Twilight with a warm smile on her face before I smiled back.

"Yeah, so what if you're not a pony, so what if you lied to us about yourself, so what if you've just been forced to tell your deepest darkest secret to of al of Ponyvi-" Pinkie Pie couldn't finish her sentence as Rarity covered her mouth with her hoof again.

Applejack stepped forward. "What she was tryin' to say was, so what if you told a little tall tale. You're still the best colt we've ever met."

"But….I'm not a real colt." I said with my ears still down.

Applejack stomped down her hoof again. "Oh who gives a flyin' feather? You're our friend Matt and nothin' gonna come between us. Not your past, not Thorn, not anythin'." She said in an assertive voice.

I then grew curious about what they saying and my hopes sparked up. "You mean….you forgive me?"

"But of cause Matt, we never thought any less of you." Rarity said sweetly.

"There was never anything to forgive." Fluttershy said with a smile.

"Yeah, you're the bestest best colt we've ever met." Pinkie Pie in a happy tone.

Rainbow Dash then walked up in front of me. "Fine….I forgive you. But I just want to do one thing." With that she shot her hoof towards me and stopped it right in front of my face which made me flinch.

She then gave me a playful smile. "Two for flinching." She said before she playfully hit my shoulder twice with her hoof.

"And please…don't think badly of Twilight. I trusted her to keep my secret and you all know that losing a friends trust is the fastest way to lose a friend." I said.

"Forever." Pinkie Pie said quietly.

"We don't think badly of her darling, and we don't think badly of you ether. We just want you to come back." Rarity said with a sweet smile.

I was stunned by what I was hearing, I lied to all of them and they still like me. I then felt a lump in my throat as I felt warm inside, nopony could asked for a better group of friends.

With tears forming in my eyes, I sat on the ground and opened my arms and everypony (including Rainbow Dash) came up to me and we all shared a group hug.

"You guys are the best, you know that?" I said with a tear rolling down my cheek.

Everypony remained silent as we all continued hugging each other.

We all then broke the hug and I started realizing what I was doing and couldn't believe myself. "What am I doing? I'm running away from my new home and friends because I was too afraid that they wouldn't like me anymore because of what I use to be? Thorn was right…I am a coward." I said to myself out loud.

Twilight came up to my lift side and placed her hoof on my shoulder, I turned my head to her to see a warm smile on her face. I then smiled back as I placed my hoof on top of her's.

"Ok, hate to interrupt the special moment here but Thorn's still got all of Ponyville under his control and he's probably half way to Canterlot by now. So what are we going to do?" Peewee asked.

I then got a serious look on my face. "I'll tell you what we're gonna do, we're not gonna let Thorn win. We're gonna beat him to Canterlot, get the Elements and use them against him."

"But Matt, the Elements have now effect on him. Remember what happened back at the castle?" Fluttershy said with a slight concerned look.

I placed my hoof on her shoulder. "I know, but what else do we have? We have to try….who's with me?"

"We are." Applejack said before everypony nodded in agreement.

I nodded back before walking up to Twilight. "Twi….we can't all fly up there and it'll take too long to get the hot-air balloon or catch a train. So I need you to teleport us there."

Twilight's eyes grew wide. "But….I can't….I'm not powerful enough to teleport that far. What if I mess up and we end up somewhere like a remote desert or something?"

I then placed both my hooves on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "You have to try. I know you can do it, I believe in you."

Twilight looked deep into my eyes before she nodded slightly and everypony gathered up to us. Me and Twilight then locked each other in a hug with our eyes shut tight as Twilight's horn began to glow. We all then disappeared in a flash of light.

**Canterlot Castel: Outside Celestia's bedroom**

Celestia and Luna were in the hallway outside Celestia's bedroom. Luna was sitting by the wall calmly while Celestia was pacing back and forth with a worried look on her face.

Luna then watched her sister pace and decided to break the silence. "Sister….are you alright?"

Celestia stopped pacing and looked towards her sister. "I'm so worried about Discord. The doctor's been in there for almost an hour and he hasn't said anything about Discord's condition. I mean, what if?...what if he?" Celestia didn't finish her sentence. Instead, she laid her hoof over her eyes.

Luna then walked up to Celestia and placed her hoof on her shoulder. Celesta then removed her hoof and looked down at Luna. "It'll be ok sister. If it'll make you feel any better? I now see that Discord has changed." Luna said with a sweet look on her face.

Celestia's eyes widened slightly. "You do?"

Luna nodded. "Yes, he saved your life. The old Discord would've never done something like that. So now I believe him."

Celestia smiled down at Luna. Suddenly, there was a bright flash behind them and they turned around fast to see Me and Twilight hugging with the Spike, Jeff, Peewee and the rest of the main 6 beside us.

I opened my eyes to see we were in a hallway in the castle before Me and Twilight broke the hug and we all looked around our surroundings. "Twi you did it." I cheered.

"Yeah….I guess I did." Twilight said quietly. She then stumbled slightly and I caught her in my hooves.

"Are you alright?" I asked in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, I'm just a little dizzy." She said quietly while rubbing her head with her hoof.

"Twilight? Matthew?" a familiar voice said across the room. Me and Twilight looked in the direction the voice came from to see Celestia and Luna looking at us with confused looks on their faces.

Me, Twilight and the others then galloped up to them. "Princess…how's Discord doin'?" Applejack asked in a worried tone.

Celestia gave me a slight upset look. "He's….still unconscious. The doctor's in my room taking care of him. Anyway, what's wrong?"

"Princess, we have to hurry! Thorn's put all of Ponyville under his mind control spell and they're on their way here, they'll be here any minute….but we have a plan." I said.

Celestia gave me a curious look. "What do you plan to do?"

"We're gonna use the Elements against him. If we defeat him, maybe everypony will be snapped out of his spell." I explained.

Celestia thought about it for a second before she nodded. "Follow me!" with that, she walked passed us and down the rest of the hallway with all of us following behind.

After a long walk through the castle, we finally came to the castle vault where the Elements were kept. Celestia then walked up to the vault and stuck her horn into the small hole in the middle.

The vault then glowed before it started to open revealing the small box floating in mid-air inside the vault. Celestia's horn then glowed before the box started to glow and levitate out of the vault. She then hovered the box in front of us.

The box lid then opened; revealing the Elements of Harmony. The Elements then levitated out of the box and the tiara placed itself on Twilight's head while the five necklaces placed themselves around the necks of the rest of the main 6.

Celestia then walked up to us. "Are you sure this is going to work? I saw what happened last time you used the Elements."

"I don't know, but we have to try. Otherwise there might be no way of stopping Thorn." I said while looking up at her.

Suddenly, one of Celestia's guards burst through the door and galloped up to us. "Your highness, there's an unknown army of ponies heading this way…and there's a large alicorn leading them."

Twilight then stepped forward. "Then we'd better get going."

"You're all doing a noble and brave act this day and I'm proud of you all." Celestia said in a calm tone.

"Yes, good luck to you all." Luna said with a small smile.

I gave them a confident smile and nodded before turning my attention back to Twilight and the others. "Ok, remember….we're going to do this together, right?"

Everypony nodded in agreement.

I then turned my head to face Twilight. "Ok then, Twi….can you teleport us in Thorn's path?" she gave me a small nod before her horn glowed and we all disappeared in a flash of light with Celestia and Luna watching us go.

**Dirt road near Canterlot**

Thorn was walking up the dirt road towards Canterlot with his mind-controlled army marching behind him. "We're almost there, soon the throne to Equestria will be mine…and there's nopony who can sto-" Thorn's train of thought was broken when a bright flash of light appeared a few feet in front of him which caused him and his army to come to a halt.

When the light faded, Me, Twilight and the others were standing on the dirt road blocking Thorn's path while giving him sharp glares.

Once Thorn saw it was us, he grinned evilly. "Matthew….I'm surprised to see you're still here."

"You'll have to do better than that to get rid of me." I said while still glaring at him.

Applejack stepped forward. "That's right, we don't care what Matt used to be. He's our friend and we're gonna stick by him."

"How touching, you all forgave him and now you're all here to try and stop me….good, it just gives me the opportunity to kill you all right here. I know, let's start with the boy who started it all." Thorn said darkly.

Twilight stepped forward. "You'll have to get through me first." She said confidently.

Thorn then glared at her. "My pleasure." With that, his horn glowed violently white and a bolt of black lightning burst out his horn and shot towards Twilight.

I went wide-eyed at the sight of this before I pushed Twilight out the way and the bolt hit my arm which caused me to yell out in pain "MATT." Twilight screamed before she got up off the ground and galloped up to me while everypony else had a shocked look on their faces.

Me and Twilight looked down at my arm to see it was slightly blackened with black smoke coming off it. And it stung like hell.

Thorn then grinned again. "You haven't experienced true pain yet." With that, his horn started to glow white again.

I then noticed that I was starting to glow white before I felt a shooting pain in my head. I fell to the ground yelling in pain while everypony came up to me with worried looks on their faces.

The pain was unbearable, I felt like my brain was on fire. But I knew that if we lost, Equestria will become a hellish nightmare. So I fought the pain and weakly picked myself up off the ground.

Thorn then had a look of wonder on his face before his horn glowed bright and the pain in my head got worse. I grunted while trying to fight the excruciating pain but I didn't back down and started walking towards Thorn one hoof at a time.

Thorn gave me a sharp glare before his horn glowed even more violently. I was in so much pain and I was fighting it back so much that I felt like I was going to collapse out of exhaustion but I didn't stop slowly moving towards Thorn.

Thorn's horn then stopped glowing and all the pain in my head finally went away, I then lowered my head while panting.

Thorn kept glaring down at me. "How is it possible? Nopony can take that much pain and still stand. How are you capable to resist my spell?"

I then forced my head up to face him. "Because….I have a purpose….to protect my home….and my friends…and as long as I live and breathe….I will NOT let you hurt them." I said between breaths while glaring at him.

An evil smile then appeared on Thorn's face. "Then I'll have to take care of that, won't I?" Thorn's horn then stated to glow violently again.

I then tensed myself up, closed my eyes and waited for Thorn to strike me down. After a few seconds, the blow never came and I opened my eyes to see Thorn's horn wasn't glowing anymore and he had his eyes wide open.

At that moment, I noticed a glow behind me and I turned around to see the Elements had lifted themselves off Twilight and the others and were now hovering in mid-air.

I then walked up beside Twilight. "What's going on?" I asked quietly.

"I don't know, I've never seen them do this before." She whispered as we continued to watch the Elements float in the air.

Suddenly, the Elements formed a circle and started to rotate, they then started to go faster until small sparks started to flicker in the middle of the rotating Elements. And with a small flash of light, three green crystals appeared floating in the middle of the Elements.

The Elements then stopped rotating and returned to Twilight and the rest of the main 6. The three green crystals then hovered towards me. I stared at them in wonder until they shot themselves onto my chest.

I looked down at my chest to see a blinding glow which forced me to close my eyes. When the glow died down, Twilight and the others gasped loudly at what they saw.

I opened my eyes and looked down at my body to see I was wearing a golden metal armoured vest with a large green crystal in the shape of my cutie mark attached to the chest area with wavy carvings around it.

My eyes were wide with amazement at the sight of what I was wearing. "What the hell is this thing?" I said slightly frightened.

Twilight walked up to me. "I can't believe it….I think it's….a seventh Element."

"That's not possible…there's no such thing as a seventh Element." Thorn said darkly with a glare in his eyes.

I then turned around to face Thorn. "Well apparently there is….and I'M WEARING IT." I yelled in amazement.

Thorn growled viciously. "It doesn't matter; you will all still die tonight." With that, Thorn's horn glowed violently and another bolt of black lightning burst out his horn and shot towards us.

Suddenly, the green crystal on my armoured vest start to glow green and a green shield appeared in front of me and deflected the bolt up into the sky. "WHAT?" Thorn yelled in anger.

I was stunned by what I just saw and looked back down at my armoured vest. Thorn then shot more bolts at me and the green crystal glowed again before another green shield appeared in front of me and deflected the bolts in multiple directions. One of the bolts even reflected off the shield and hit the ground next to Thorn's hoof which made him flinch.

After a moment in thought, I finally understood what to do. I turned around to face Twilight. "Twi, I know what we need to do. You and the others need to use the Elements now."

Twilight gave me a worried look. "Are you sure Matt? What if it doesn't work?"

I then placed my hoof on her shoulder and gave her a trusting smile. "This Element will help us, trust me!" Twilight looked deep into my eyes before she smiled and nodded.

I then looked towards Spike, Jeff and Peewee. "You three better stand back, I could get rough."

Spike, Jeff and Peewee nodded in agreement before they took a few steps backwards. The rest of the main 6 then gathered up to Me and Twilight.

"Everypony ready?" I said while looking at everypony's concerned faces. They all nodded.

"Then let's do this thing." I said in a confident tone before I turned around to face Thorn.

Me, Twilight and the rest of the main 6 then closed our eyes before each of our Elements started to glow. Twilight and the others then levitated off the ground and hovered in mid-air while I stayed on the ground in front of them.

Thorn then chuckled evilly. "Oh, you have to be joking. That's your big plan?...to use the Elements on me?...Hahaha." as Thorn laughed, all the male-controlled ponies laughed with him.

Thorn then stopped laughing and his horn glowed again. At that moment, black thunder clouds started to form above him and a bolt of lightning shot out towards us. Just as it was about to hit us, I opened my eyes to reveal them to be glowing white before a green forcefield formed around Me and the others.

The bolt hit the field but it couldn't break through to us. Thorn saw this and growled in anger before his horn glowed brighter; causing the lighting to come out the clouds more violently.

As the bolt tried to push its way through the field, Twilight opened her white glowing eyes before a rainbow beam shot up from the Elements, broke through the field and dove down towards Thorn.

"NOOOOO." Thorn yelled in terror before the beam slammed down on top of him; causing the clouds to disappear. Suddenly, a rainbow sonic wave burst out around where Thorn was standing and created a cloud of dust.

The forcefield disappeared before my eyes returned to normal. I groaned and rubbed my head before I turned around to see Twilight and the others float to the ground with their eyes closed.

I walked up to Twilight with a concerned look on my face. "Twi…are you alright?" she opened her eye and smile sweetly at me. "Yeah, I'm fine." I smile back at her while the others watched us.

"Why can't they just admit it?" Rarity said to herself while smiling at us.

Spike, Jeff and Peewee then ran up to all of us. "Wow, that was….you where….and the forcefield….so cool." Spike said in an excited tone.

I smiled down at him. "Thanks buddy."

The dust then started to clear and we all looked to where Thorn was. Once the dust cleared, we were all shocked by what we saw. Thorn was lying on the ground not moving while all the ponies were standing behind him with all their eyes back to normal and confused looks on their faces.

"What…what happened?" the Mayor said in a confused tone.

I then became nervous again before I felt somepony's hoof wrap around my arm. I look turned my head to see Twilight with a warm smile on her face.

I smiled back before I turned my head back to everypony and gulped hard. I then approached everypony while they were looking at me with confused faces. "Matthew?...what's happening here?" the Mayor asked me.

I held my hoof up. "Look! Before you or anypony else says anything, I want to say I'm sorry for lying to everypony. I just wanted everypony to accept me and think of me as a friend and I hope you can all forgive me for it….I'm truly sorry." I said with my ears low.

"Well, that's very noble of you Matt but we have no idea what ya talkin' about." Big Macintosh said with an eye brow raised.

I then gave them a confused look. "What do you mean? Don't you remember what I said back in the field?"

Everypony shook their heads. I was shocked by this; they don't remember me telling them that I wasn't a pony. "THAT'S GREAT….I mean, Thorn's spell must of erased your recent memory….oh well." I said.

Miss Cheerilee stuck her hoof out. "Wait Matt! What did you mean when you said you lied?" she said with a raised eye brow.

Think Matt! Think. I then came up with something to say. "Emmm…I lied to you about….Jeff eating all the cupcakes in Sugar Cube Corner. That was really me….sorry."

Everypony looked at each other in confusion before turning their heads back to me. "Well…err…just..don't do it again." The Mayor said. I then saluted to her. "You got it."

With that, everypony turned around and headed back towards Ponyville. Twilight then walked up beside me and I turned my head to see she had a smirk on her face. "Jeff eating all the cupcakes?"

I smirked back. "It was the only thing I could think of." She then shook her head while smiling.

My smirk then faded away once I remembered Thorn was still here. I looked over to where he was and saw him still lying on the floor. I then slowly walked over to his body and once I reached it, I carefully poked his hip with my hoof.

Suddenly, Thorn's eyes shot open and he smacked me away with his wing. Thorn then got back on his hooves with a shape glare in his eyes while he was growling and bearing his teeth.

I backed away as he slowly approached me with hate burning in his eyes. "You miserable little runt, I'll make you pay for this." He growled.

My eye widened at the sight of his horn glowing again. "And now boy….YOU…WILL…" Thorn couldn't finish his sentence before a light started shining on half of his face; causing him to shut one of his eyes and shield his face with wing. We looked to see where the light was coming from and saw the sun rising up from the horizon.

Suddenly, Thorn's wing started to give of smoke while making a sizzling noise. Thorn looked at his wing and yelled in horror before he looked around his entire body to see it was doing the same.

He then looked back at me and glared. "This isn't over Matthew." With that, his horn glowed again and a bolt of black flames formed around him and when the flames disappeared, Thorn was gone.

I was still looking at where thorn was while breathing heavily. I then turned around and walked back to Twilight and the others.

Once I reached them, I hung my head. "He got away."

"But he's gonna come back….I know he will." Rainbow Dash said while glaring at the ground.

I then placed my hoof on her shoulder and she looked up at me. "And we'll be ready." Everypony else then nodded in agreement.

Suddenly, a thought returned to my mine and I gasped. "Aw man Discord, we have to see if he's alright." Twilight nodded before her horn started to glow and we all disappeared in a flash of light.

**Canterlot Castle: Outside Celestia's bedroom**

Luna was staring out the window to see that the sun was now high in the sky while Celestia was once again pacing back and forth. They then noticed a flash of light and when the light faded, Me, Twilight and the others were standing at the end of the hallway.

We then saw the two princesses and galloped up to them. "Princess…we did it…everypony's-"

"Back to normal." Celestia interrupted.

I then gave her an awkward look. "Yeah….and guess what-"

"You've discovered a seventh Element." Celestia interrupted again.

I raised my eye brow. "Right…and-"

"Thorn got away." Celestia interrupted for the last time. I looked at her wide-eyed in amazement. "You're good…..but anyway, how's Discord doin'?"

Celestia gave me an upset look. "The doctor hasn't come out yet…frankly, I starting to fear the worst." We all looked at her with devastation in our eyes.

At that moment, we all heard a door creek open and we all looked at the door to Celestia's room to see a light brown pony with a doctor's cote walk towards us.

Celestia turned her body all the way around to face him properly. "How is he doctor?" the doctor let out a small sigh. "He's still alive…but I hate to tell you this your highness but….he is gravely wounded. Most ponies don't survive an electrical shock like that…if he doesn't wake up soon, I'm afraid we've lost him."

We all then galloped passed the doctor and into the bedroom to see Discord lying on the bed with his eyes closed and bandages wrapped around his chest. We all gathered around the bed with worried looks on our faces.

Celestia leaned her head closer to Discord. " Please…don't die Discord. I've only now realized how much you've truly changed and I'm sorry for not seeing it sooner. I promise to make it up to you….just please wake up…please." Celestia then closed her eyes and a tear rolled down her cheek and dripped onto Discord's face.

Twilight nuzzled her head into my shoulder before I wrapped my hoof around her to comfort her while still looking at Discord. I could feel her tears running down onto my shoulder.

Just then, we all heard a slight grunting sound and Twilight removed her head off my should and we all looked towards the bed to see Discord's head moving on the pillow. After a second, Discord's eyes started to open and our frowns turned into cheerful smiles.

Discord's eyes where now fully open and he leaned his head up off the pillow and looked at us. There was a moment silence before Discord broke it. "Ok…that hurt."

We all then burst out into cheers and walked up closer to Discord. "Welcome back buddy." I said cheerfully.

"Thanks….where've I been? OW." Discord yelled as he tried to lean up off the bed. Celestia then placed her hoof on him and gently laid him back down. "Don't try to get up Discord. You got hurt pretty bad." She said in her calm voice.

Discord looked up at Celestia and smiled. "Well…at least it was worth it." After hearing this, Celestia smiled back down to him. "By the way….thank you….for saving me. I owe you my life Discord."

Discord placed his talon hand on her hoof. "You owe me nothing, my dear Celestia." He said quietly.

I then noticed that they were looking in each other's eyes before I suddenly knew where they were going with this and smiled. Celestia then removed her hoof off of Discord and walked towards the door. "Come now everypony, we should leave him to rest."

With that we all followed her out of the room; leaving Discord to rest his head back on the pillow and close his eyes.

In the hallway, we gave the Elements to Luna before her horn glowed and she disappeared with the Elements. Twilight was about to teleport us back to Ponyville before Celestia tapped her hoof on my shoulder and I turned around to face her. "I know what you're wondering Matt…you're wondering what that new Element was and why it chose you."

I nodded. "Yeah. It made shields and stuff like that."

"There's only one Element that has that kind of power…_The Element of bravery_. It is said that the Element will give itself to the one pony with the bravest heart. And aberrantly, that pony is you." I gave her a confused look.

"When you confessed the truth about yourself, you were afraid that everypony would resent you for lying but in the end you faced your fears and stood up against Thorn and you were willing to give your life to protect your friends. That's why the Element chose you." Celestia explained with a warm smile.

I was amazed by this news; I'm now one of the Elements of Harmony. I couldn't believe it.

"By the way, the Element doesn't just make shields for protecting. After you master the Elements power, the shields can be used as weapons in combat." Celestia said.

My eye's widened. "Whow really?...that's cool."

Celestia giggled at my comment. "Yes, it's very cool. But if you're going to use these powers against foes like Thorn, then you need to learn to control these powers. That's why I've authorised Luna to teach you. Do you feel up to it?"

I turned my head to face Twilight to see she was nodding her head with a large smile on her face. I then turned my head back to Celestia and nodded. "Ok, I'll do it."

Celestia's smile grew bigger. "Very well, your first lesson with start in a few days. I'll send you a letter when it's time to begin."

"Thanks Princess." I said before turning back to Everypony to see the large smiles on their faces before Twilight's horn glowed and we all disappeared in a flash of light; leaving Celestia alone in the hallway before she turned around to go back into her room to tend to Discord.

**Meanwhile: Far away dark mountains**

A bolt of black flame burst out the ground and Thorn collapsed though them and onto the ground while panting. He looked at his wing to see it had stopped smoking and exhaled in relief.

"I take it your plan failed." A dark voice said across the room. Thorn looked up to see one of the other silhouetted alicorns sitting on the throne glaring down at him.

Thorn got up off the ground and bowed to the alicorn. "My brother, I have grave news….there is a seventh Element…and Matthew represents it."

The alicorn growled viciously before his horn glowed and Thorn was lifted off the ground and pinned to the wall. The alicorn flew down to him and glared sharply at him. "A seventh Element? How could you let this happen? What was its power?" he yelled.

"Brother…please..." Thorn begged. "You dare beg for mercy from ME YOU COWARD? I asked you what does the Element do?" the alicorn yelled louder.

"It…it creates shields brother…my powers couldn't break through them." Thorn said with slight fear in his voice,

The alicorn hummed slightly before dropping Thorn to the floor. "The Element of bravery….the one Element that's strong enough to fight us…and you say Matthew controls this Element now?...this could mean trouble for our plan." He said darkly

Thorn got up off the ground. "Brother…let me destroy Matthew and this Element….give me a second chance, I beg of you."

The alicorn raised his eye brow. "And why should I give you a second chance after you've already failed me once?"

Thorn then glared sharply. "Because now I have a new purpose in my plan….to get revenge on that little green runt and his friends…even if I have to destroy all of Ponyville and Canterlot, I will see Matthew die."

**Again, sorry for the long wait and hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**By the way, I've been waiting to introduce one of the mysterious alicorns for a while now so please tell me what you think about Thorn. **

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	19. Chapter 19: Element training

Chapter 19: Element training 

It's been 4 days since Thorn tried to take Canterlot and so far he hasn't come back, but we're still prepared for it.

Discord was still in Celestia's care in the castle and I've had to wear bandages around my arm after Thorn zapped it with his magic. It's taken a few days, but my arm has finally healed and the bandages are being removed.

******Ponyville library**

I was sitting on the edge of mine and Twilight's bed with my wrapped arm sticking out while Twilight was gently unwrapping my bandages with her magic.

"Hold still Matt, it's almost off." Twilight said in a calm tone.

"I'm just worried what my arm looks like now, it was burnt really badly." I said in a slight worried tone.

Finally, all the bandages came off my arm and too my surprise, my arm looked completely normal. No bruises, no scars, no wound what so ever. "See, nothing there. Feel better now?" Twilight asked with a smile.

I got down off the bed and bent my arm a few times. "Still feels a bit stiff."

Twilight then came closer to me. "Want me to kiss it better?" she asked with a sweet smile.

I gave her a sweet smile back. "I'd like that." She then lifted up my arm and gave it a small kiss.

A sly smirk then grew on my face. "You know Twi. There's….another part of me that hurts as well."

Twilight was confused for a second before she realized what I was doing and giggled. "Oh really?...and what exactly would that part be?"

I then leaned my head closer to her with the smirk still on my face. "Take a wild guess!" Twilight giggled again before we shared a deep kiss on the lips.

We kissed for a few minutes before we broke the kiss and stared into each other's eyes. "Feel better?" Twilight asked with a smile.

"Much." I answered before we pressed our noses together while staring into each other's eyes dreamily.

At that moment, Spike came up the stairs with Jeff on his shoulder and they both saw Me and Twilight. "Ah dude come on! I prefer you two kissin' then doin' that." Jeff said as he covered his eyes with his wing.

Me and Twilight then separated and turned our heads to face them. "How is it you always walk in when me and Twilight are having a privet moment?" I asked with an eye brow raised and a small smile.

Jeff moved his wing away from his eyes. "Trust me dude! It's startin' to bug my too. I mean, what's next? Lovey-dovey names? Next time I'll just knock before I enter a door or yell up the stairs or somethin'."

Spike then walked up to us with a scroll in his hand. "Anyway Matt, this came for you."

Twilight then levitated the scroll out of his hand a hovered it in front of us before unravelling it with her magic. The letter said.

_Dear Matthew._

_I am pleased to say that the Canterlot training hall is ready and my sister Luna is prepared to train you to control the powers of the Element of bravery. When you're ready, please report to the castle and I will escort you there._

_Sincerely: Princess Celestia._

Twilight then grew a smile on her face. "Well Matt, it sounds like their finally ready to start your training. Are you ready?"

I gave her a small frown. "What's wrong Matt? Don't you want to learn how to use the Element?" Twilight asked with a concerned look on her face.

"I do, it's just….I don't have to go if you don't want me to. If you want? I can tell Celestia to hold it till another time and I can spend the day with you." I said in a calm tone.

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "Matt that's sweet, but it's important and you need to learn how to use the Elements powers. I'll be fine here, don't worry!"

I hung my head. "Well….if you put it like that."

Twilight then placed her hoof under my chin a raised my head back up so I was looking at her. "Hey…it'll be fine. I'll be here when you get back, then we can spend the rest of the day together. Ok?" She said with a warm smile.

I gave her a small Smile. "Ok Twi, I'll go."

Twilight nodded. "Good, now do you want me to pack something to eat while you're there?" said asked sweetly.

"A few apples would be nice." I answered before she smiled and walked towards the stairs

I stared at her dreamily as she went down the stairs. "I'm telling you guys, she's the one." I said in a dreamed voice.

Jeff then flew onto my back and I turned my head to face him. "Well, why don'cha tell her then?" he asked in a curious tone.

"I was going to at the comet show but that Thorn guy showed up and killed the mood. I've haven't had a chance to tell her since." I said in a slightly irritated tone.

"Well, Thorn isn't here now. Here's your chance." Spike said as her pointed to the stairs.

My eyes widened slightly. "What just like that? What if she doesn't feel the same about me?" I asked in a curious tone.

Jeff flew off my back and landed on the floor in front of me. "Are you crazy? She's nuts about you. Look! All you have to do is go down there, look deep into her purple eyes and say those three simple words that I know are just dying to come out of that big mouth of yours."

I gave him a thankful look. "Look Jeff, I appreciate you trying to help me and all but I think I should just leave it 'till the right moment." I said in a calm voice.

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Fine, it's your love life. You do what you think is right!"

I smiled down at him. "Thanks Jeff. Well, I'll see you guys later." I said before walking passed them and went down the stairs.

"Even though I'm an expert on romance because I have a wife and two eggs at home." Jeff yelled down to me.

Spike looked down at him with a suspicious look. "No you don't. Just yesterday, I saw you flirting with two female pigeons at Fluttershy's-OW."

Spike couldn't finish his sentence before Jeff stomped his talons down on his foot. "Shut up, he doesn't know that." He whispered loudly in an angry tone.

"Yes I do." I said with a smirk as I continued to walk down the stairs. "D'OH!" I heard Jeff yell from the top of the stairs.

Once I was down the stairs, Twilight came into the room while levitating my saddle bags in front of her with her magic. She came up to me and placed the saddle bags on my back.

I looked at both of my saddle bags to see they were full of apples. I turned my head back to Twilight and smiled. "Thanks Twi, are you sure you want me to go?"

She gave me a sweet smile. "I wish we could spend the day together but this is just too important to pass up."

I nodded slightly. "I know…maybe when I get back; we can go to that restaurant we like tonight? You know! Just the two of us." I said with hopes that she'd say yes.

Her smile grew. "I'd love to." She said as we looked deep into each other's eyes.

There was a moment silence before I broke it. "Twilight I…I.."

"Yes." Twilight said as she leaned her head closer to me with her eyes sparkling.

I leaned my head slightly closer to her "I….I want to tell you that….I…I'm gonna miss you while I'm gone today."

Twilight's ears lowered slightly. "Oh..right….well..I'm gonna miss you too." She said with a small smile.

We then leaned our heads closer to each other before we shared a passionate kiss. "Tell her tonight at the restaurant Matt." I thought as we continued kissing.

We then broke the kiss and walked towards the front door. Once we reached the front door, Twilight opened it with her magic and I walked through the door way before turning back to face Twilight.

I was about to say something before I noticed Jeff and Spike standing behind Twilight. I then had an idea which put a large deceptive grin on my face.

I walked up to Twilight and whispered into her ear. She was confused at first but after hearing my plan, she giggled slightly.

I then pulled away from Twilight and looked into her eyes. "Have a nice day….my precious little egg-head." I said playfully.

"You too….my big handsome green lump." Twilight said playfully while fluttering her eyes.

"AHHH." Both Spike and Jeff cried out in disgust. "OH COME ON!...LOVEY-DOVEY NAMES? You're just doing this on purpose now." Jeff yelled in annoyance.

Me and Twilight laughed over their complaining before I turned around and started walking away from the front door. "See ya later, Twi." I said while still laughing a bit.

"See ya Matt." Twilight said as she waved goodbye.

I then flew up into the sky and up towards Canterlot with Twilight watching me from the door way.

******Canterlot Castel**

After a long flight, I finally landed in the castle grounds. I looked towards the front double doors to see two guards standing in front of them.

I walked up to them. "Keep up the good work fellas." I said as I tried to walk between them. Suddenly, they both spread one of their wings in front of me and blocked my path.

"You're not allowed in there without authorization sir." One of the guards said to me.

"Oh not this again." I thought as I rolled my eyes in frustration. "Look guys! Princess Celestia sent me a letter saying that she'd take me to see Princess Luna so she could teach me how to control the powers of the Element of bravery, so I really need to get in there or else Princess Celestia's going to come out here and I'll be in trouble for keeping her waiting while you two will be in BIG trouble for making me keep her waiting. Get it?" I said with my arms crossed.

The two guards looked at each other before looking back at me. "You represent the Element of bravery?." One of the guards asked me before I nodded.

"Her majesty informed us that a Pegasus would show up to attend a lesson with Princess Luna. We just didn't expect you to be so….young." the guard said with a raised eye brow.

I smiled. "Yeah I know, I can't believe it ether. But seriously, I really need to see Princess Celestia right now." I said hoping they would allow me to go in.

The guard nodded. "Understood, follow me please." He said before they both turned around to the double doors, opened them and walked inside the castle with me following behind.

When then walked down the long hallway until we came to another pair of double doors, the guards opened the doors with their magic revealing the large room with the big stairs. As we walked towards the stairs, I looked up at the top of the stairs to see Princess Celestia smiling down at us.

We then stopped at the bottom of the stairs. "Your majesty, this young Pegasus claims he represents the Element of bravery. Is this the Pegasus of which you spoke of before? The guard asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes he is, you two may go now." She said in a calm voice.

With that, the two guards bowed before they turned around and walked out the room; leaving Me alone with Celestia.

I then walked up the stairs until I reached Celestia. "Matthew, I'm so glad that you could make it. Are you excited about your first lesson?" she asked with a smile.

"I'm a bit nervous." I admitted.

"I understand how you feel, just keep a cool mind and remain calm and you should be fine. Now, shall we get going?" Celestia said as she walking towards the pair of double doors on the right side of the room with me following beside her.

After a long walk around the castle, we were finally walking down the hallway that lead to the training hall. As we were walking, Celestia noticed that I was looking down at the floor in deep thought. "Is there something troubling you Matt?"

My train of thought was broken and I turned my head to face her. "What?...no…I was just…trying to think of a way to do something at home. That's all." I said before turning my attention back to the floor.

Celestia smiled down at me. "You're trying to find a way to tell Twilight how you feel about her."

My eyes widened slightly and I turned my head back up to Celestia. "How did you-" I couldn't finish my sentence as Celestia cut me off.

"I can tell when it comes to these kind of things Matt; I can see it in your eyes. With each passing day, your relationship with Twilight grows bigger and you feel the desire to be by her side every second of the day. But now you realize how you feel about her and you don't know how to tell her." Celestia said in her understanding voice.

I was amazed that she knew how I felt. "Yeah, that's exactly how it feels like. But I don't know if I have the courage to-"

Celestia cut me off again. "Matthew…do you love Twilight?" she asked.

"…..yes….I do." I said in a slightly quiet tone.

Celestia's smile grew. "Well when you get a chance alone with her, tell her. I'm more than sure she feels the same way about you. I mean, why wouldn't she?"

I tried to think of a reason but couldn't think of one. "I don't know."

"Exactly, so have confidence Matt! Everything will be fine. Now let's keep moving! We're keeping my sister waiting." Celestia said sweetly as we continued to walk down the hallway until we reached the pair of double doors.

Celestia's horn then glowed and the doors opened revealing a large stone room with stone tiles forming a large circle on the floor in the middle of the room.

I looked in the middle of the room to see Luna standing in the middle of the circle with a book hovering in front of her face. Luna then noticed me and Celestia standing in the door way and lowered the book. "Ah Matthew, I was beginning to wonder if you were going to show up."

I stepped forward with a smirk on my face. "Yeah, I wanted to stay with Twilight but she convinced me to come and she did make it sound important so….here I am."

She smiled to me. "Here you are."

Celestia smiled. "Well Matthew, I can see that you're all settled here. So if you'll both excuse me? I need to go tend to Discord." With that she turned around and headed towards the door.

"How is he, by the way?" I asked before she left.

Celestia turned her head around to face me. "Oh he's fine, still in needs to be in bed but he's fine."

"That's good, say Hi to him for me!" I said with a smile.

Celestia smiled and nodded before walked out the double doors and shut them behind her with her magic; leaving me alone with Luna.

I then walked over to the wall, took off my saddle back and placed it on the floor next to the wall so it was out of the way. I then walked back to Luna. "So Princess…how do we start this thing?"

Luna smiled. "Well first you need to put on the Element."

I stuck my hoof out. "No problem. I'll just…put on the…errr." I looked around the room to find my Element but I couldn't see it anywhere. "Errr Princess…the Element's not in here. Was I supposed to bring it here?" I asked curiously.

Luna shook her head. "No, this is your first lesson. You see Matthew; this Element can be used in combat. So unlike the other Elements, you can summon it and it'll appear on your body within a few seconds."

I raised an eye brow. "Huh?"

Luna let out a small sigh. "You can summon it to come to you, that way you won't have to go all the way to the vault to get it.

I then understood what she meant. "Oooooh right, why didn't you say so?"

Luna rolled her eyes. "Anyway here's how it works, close your eyes, clear your mind of everything but the Element and imagine wearing it."

I then closed my eyes tightly and imagined myself wearing the Element. After a minute, I could see a light shining through my eye lids but I didn't open my eyes to see what it was. When the light faded, I opened my eyes and looked down at my chest to see I was wearing the golden armoured vest with my crystal version cutie mark in the middle of it.

"Whow…I did it." I cheered in amazement.

Luna smiled. "Yes, and on the first try too. I'm very impressed. Now your next task is to create a forcefield to protect yourself from incoming magic attacks. For instance, I'm going to shoot some of my magic at you and need to defend yourself." She said as she took a few steps backwards.

"Wait…what?" I said in a shocked voice.

"Heads up." Luna said as she pointed her glowing horn at me before shooting a dark blue beam of magic towards me. As the beam shot towards me, I quickly shut my eyes and grunted as I tried to make a shield appear.

Suddenly, the green crystal on my armoured vest started to glow until a large green shield appeared in front of me and deflected Luna's beam; which ended up hitting the wall and making a hole in it.

I then opened my eyes to see that I succeeded. "Oh yeah, that's what Mattie's talkin' about." I cheered before the shield disappeared revealing Luna with a confused look on her face.

Once I saw her face, I blushed out of embarrassment. "I mean….yay, I did it." I said with a sheepish smile.

Luna's confused face turned into a small smile. "It's alright to enjoy your victory. And I do have to admit, your progress is moving faster than I expected."

I smiled back at her before looking over to the wall with the hole in it. "Ooh, sorry about the wall. I should probably watch my aim in the future."

Luna waved a hoof. "No need to be sorry Matthew, the room will repair itself."

I gave her a confused look before turning my attention back to the wall and my eyes widened in surprise by what I saw. The rubble on the floor levitated off the ground and placed itself back on the wall, now it looked as though the wall was never damaged.

"Whow…did you see that?" I said in amazement as I pointed to the wall. Luna stepped closer to me. "Yes, you see Matthew. When this room was being built, my sister knew that it would take a lot of damage during the training sessions so she enchanted it to repair itself after taking damage. It's quite a handy spell if you ask me.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah it is. Now should we get on to the next task?" I can't believe I just said that.

Luna nodded. "Yes of cause. Now your next task is to create smaller shields that you can use in combat against your foes. So I'm going to make you a target to practises on." With that, Luna's horn glowed and a pony training dummy appeared in a flash of light.

"Now Matthew, place your front hooves together and open them slowly while imagining a round shield growing wide between your hooves." Luna explained.

With that, I sat down on the floor, put my front hooves together and slowly reopened them. As I opened them, a small green disc appeared between them; the more I opened my hooves, the wider the disc grew until it was a large green disc."

I then held the disc like a plate on my hoof. "Whow….this is weird and awesome at the same time. Now what do I do?" I asked while staring wide-eyed at the disc.

Luna pointed at the training dummy. "Now you throw it at the dummy as hard as you can."

With that, I looked at the dummy, held the disc in my arm like a discus and spun around a few times before I stopped and threw the disc towards the dummy only of it to miss and smash like glass against the wall.

"Oh…that was wrong wasn't it? Let me try that again." I said before I made another green disc in my hooves and threw it at the dummy only for it to jet again miss and smash against the wall.

"Come on Matthew! You can do it." Luna said in a confident tone.

"I know I'm doing something wrong, maybe I'm throwing it wrong, I should try throwing it like a Frisbee." I thought before I made another green disc in my hooves and closed one eye to get a better aim.

Once I got a good aim, I threw the disc like a Frisbee with great force and it shot towards the dummy. The disc the sliced through the dummy; cutting it in half.

My eye widened in amazement. "Whow hold on! Is that gonna happen if I throw it at a real pony? I don't want to kill anypony."

Luna stepped forward. "Don't worry Matthew! The discs only cut through certain objects. They're not capable of cutting through live ponies no matter how weak they are." She explained with a small smile.

"Well that's a relief. Anyway, what's next?" I asked curiously.

"Well you've proven you can hit a still target, but how are you with a moving target?" she asked with a smirk.

"Errr…moving?" I asked nervously.

Luna's horn then glowed and three more pony training dummies appeared on the other side of the room. The dummies then started to glow and when the glow faded from them; they slowly started to walk towards me.

"Oh crap." Was my only response.

******Meanwhile: Celestia's bedroom **

Discord was lying on the bed with the bandages still wrapped around his chest while reading a newspaper. "Oooh, there's a sale at Sugar Cube Corner." He said in a slightly surprised tone.

At that moment, Celestia walked into the room. "Evening Discord, how do you feel?" she asked in a sweet voice.

Discord turned his attention to Celestia and smile. "Much better, I still can't sit up but the doctor says that I should make a full recovery in the next two days."

Celestia smiled as she walked up to the bed. "Good. By the way, have you read what the paper says about you and Matt?" she asked before her horn glowed and the pages of the newspaper flipped until they came to a stop on a certain page.

Discord then read what the paper had to say. "_New Element discovered by a young Pegasus named Matthew and his friends when a mysterious alicorn named Thorn attempted to take the throne while Discord suffers after committing a selfless act by saving Princess Celestia from an unknown doom. _Well I'm glad they mentioned that, if that doesn't get ponies to believe I've changed; I don't know what will."

Celestia then looked down at the floor with a sad look on her face. Discord noticed this. "Is something wrong Celestia?" he asked with a concerned voice.

Celestia looked at Discord. "Nothing it's just….I feel like it's my fault you got hurt. If had only seen that bolt coming then maybe this wouldn't have happened." She then hung her head again.

Discord then placed his lion hand under Celestia's chin and raised her head back up so he could look in her eyes. "I don't blame you Celestia. There was no way I was going to let somepony like Thorn hurt you."

"How do you know him anyway?" Celestia asked curiously.

Discord rubbed the back of his head. "I don't remember much but I think he's the one who freed me…and I think he's the one who started that fire in the main hall and tried to kill me in the process."

"You said that an alicorn threatened to take away your name and half your magic if you didn't kill Matthew, was it Thorn who threatened you?" Celestia asked.

Discord rubbed his chin. "I think so, I don't really remember. But…to be truthful Celestia, my name and magic wasn't the only think he threatened to take away." He said as he started to become nervous.

"Really?...what else did he say he'd take away?" Celestia asked.

"He….he threatened to….kill you if I didn't do as he said. And I couldn't live with myself knowing that you died because of my failure, that's why I tried to kill Matthew…I didn't want to but he said if I didn't he'd come after you so I had no choice." Discord admitted.

Celestia was surprised by this truth. "But….that was before you turned to good. Back then you spent years trying to take my throne."

"To overthrow you, not kill you. Even if I was still evil; I would never kill anypony. That day, I was forced against my will to try and kill Matthew….and I'm sorry for everything I've done in the past…to you and to Matthew. I just hope you find it in your heart to forgive me." Discord said with a look of sorrow on his face.

Celestia was both shocked and surprised by what she had just heard. Discord was forced to try and do something he'd never do to try and protect her. "Oh Discord, that must have been terrible…forced to do something you didn't want to do…to protect me. But…why?...do you care about me that much?"

Discord looked deep into her eyes and decided to tell her the truth. "Yes….I do."

"Discord…I.." Celestia was interrupted by the sound of a knock on the door. She looked back at the door to see one of her guards standing by the doorway.

"Your highness, you requested me to tell you when it was time to return to the training hall?" The guard said with a raised eye brow.

"Yes, I'll go now." Celestia said. The guard then nodded and left the room before Celestia turned her head back to Discord.

"Well….I'll come back later Discord. Try to get some rest while I'm gone! Ok?" Celestia said with a sweet smile.

Discord then had a slight disappointed look on his face. "Oh…must you go?"

"Yes….I need to tell Matthew that he's done training for today. Don't worry! I'll be back soon." Celestia said before turning around and walked out the door before shutting it behind her with her magic; leaving Discord alone in the room.

He let out a small sigh before he laid his head on the pillow and let himself drift off to sleep.

******Castle training hall**

I had my back against the wall as the dummies came closer to me. I've been trying to beat these things for the last few minutes but I keep missing them with my shield discs.

They were standing in a row as they walked towards me; I took this opportunity to strike and made a green disc in each of my front hooves before I threw both of them at the dummies on the left and right.

The discs then cut through the two dummies and they fell to the floor; leaving only the middle one left.

I grinned as I made another green disc in my hooves and threw it towards the last dummy. To my surprise, the dummy ducked and dodged the disc which flew across the rest of the room and smashed against the wall.

The dummy then got up and pounced on my, I tried to push it off me but it had a tight grip on me. Suddenly, the green crystal on my armoured vest glowed and a green forcefield shot around me and pushed the dummy off me.

I then had an idea on how to beat this thing. I made another green disc, held it in my mouth, made the forcefield disappear and used the disc to slice through the dummy's neck and chest. The dummy stood there for a second before it fell apart into three separate pieces.

The green disc in my mouth then disappeared in a small flash and I took this time to take a breather and calm down.

Luna then walked up beside me while levitating a paper towel in front of her. She then levitated the paper towel to me and I took it in my hoof before I used it to wipe the sweat off my head.

"You did well today Matthew, how about we take a break?" Luna suggested with a smile.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'm starving." I said before I walked over to my saddle bag, grabbed it in my mouth and brought it back to Luna. Luna's horn then glowed and with a flash of light; a round stone table appeared and me and Luna sat by it.

I placed my saddle bag on the table and pulled out an apple and started eating it. "You know Princess….you're a pretty alright teacher….ever thought about teaching a class?" I said while chewing.

Luna shook her head. "No, most ponies don't usually want me to teach them anything. In fact, I'm surprised you actually accepted it."

I gave her a confused look. "Why?"

Luna frowned slightly. "Because….most ponies find me….frightening. I mean, who would want to be taught by…Nightmare Moon?" she then hung her head.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for her, she still thinks badly of herself for that. I then decided to try and cheer her up. I placed my hoof on her shoulder. "Princess, you shouldn't beat yourself up over that. You're not Nightmare Moon anymore; you're Princess Luna, the Princess of the night. Don't you think it's time to forget all that?"

Luna raised her head back up and looked at me. "I was trapped on the moon for a thousand years, how am I supposed to forget something like that?" she asked with her ears slightly low.

"Ok I admit, being stuck on the moon for a thousand years may have been a bit…extreme. But that's all behind you now Princess, it's time to move on and forgive yourself." I said trying to lift her spirits.

Luna gave me a slight suspicious look. "Do you know how it feels to have others call you behind your back? I mean sure, the ponies in Ponyville like me now but what about the ponies here in Canterlot? I can tell their all still unsure of me."

"Well, I do know what it's like to be called by others. Trust me, where I came from others use to call me names all the time. But I didn't care what they said because I knew what they said about me wasn't true." I said.

Luna then started taking interest in what I was saying. "Look Princess, the Canterlot ponies can call you a lot of things. But no matter what bad names they call you, you shouldn't listen to what they say because you know that none of it is true. You should listen to what your friends and family say about you. For instance, I'm your friend and I think you're a good hearted pony and a pretty damn good teacher. A smart farm pony said something to me when she discovered my deep secret; she said _Who gives a flyin' feather about what you used to be, we're your friends and nothin' gonna come between us, not your past, not anythin'._" I said quoting Applejack with a smile.

Luna then smiled warmly. "You speak with such wisdom, how do you do it?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I just say what sounds good, I guess."

"You're not like other colts I've meat, you're….understanding." Luna said with the smile still on her face.

I smiled at her. "Thanks." I then reached into the saddle bag and pulled out another apple. "Want one?" I asked as I held the apple out to her.

Luna smiled warmly again and took the apple off my hoof with her magic before taking a bite out of it.

After we ate the apples, we both heard a knock on the door and we turned around to see Celestia walk into the room. "Evening you two, how was the lesson?" she asked with a smile.

"It went well; I learned how to throw small shield discs at enemies and….actually, that's basically it." I said with a smirk.

Celestia's smile grew. "That's good. Anyway, you lessons have finished for today Matthew. You can go home now."

I then smiled, grabbed my saddle bag and headed for the door where Celestia was. "See ya Princess Luna. Thanks for today, you rock." I then walked out the door while Celestia walked up to Luna.

Luna had a confused look on her face. "I…rock? Sister, what is the meaning of that phrase?"

Celestia rubbed her chin. "Well…it's kinda like saying that you're good…and cool or something like that. Either way, it was a compliment." She said with a smile.

"He thinks I'm….cool?" Luna asked before she looked out the door and watched me walk further down the hallway.

Luna's confused face then turned into a small smile as she blushed.

******That night: the restaurant **

Me and Twilight were sitting on our usual table; the one in the gazebo in the garden. Our food had just arrived but I didn't notice as I was too busy staring at Twilight dreamily.

Twilight then noticed I was staring at her and she giggled. "What are you looking at?"

"You just look so beautiful tonight Twi. I can't stop looking at you." I said in a dreamed tone.

"Matt, I didn't dress up tonight. I look the same as I always do." She said with an amused smile.

It was true, she wasn't wearing a dress and she had no make-up on, but that didn't change anything. "Still." Was my only response.

Twilight blushed. "You're such a flatterer Matt. By the way, you haven't told me how your lesson with Luna went yet."

I then snapped out of my daze. "Oh, it went well. I learned a new shield attack and I helped Luna with a problem and I think I did pretty well with that one. If I do say so myself."

Twilight gave me a curious look. "Really? What was her problem?"

"Well, she still feels bad about that whole Nightmare Moon thing so I cheered her up by telling her to not listen to the bad things that ponies say about her because she knows they're not true and listen to what her friends and family say about her. And to show her that I was her friend, I shared my apples with her." I explained.

Twilight gave me a large proud smile. "Oh that was nice of you. So does she feel better?"

"I think so, I'll ask her in our next lesson." I said before I lowered my head down to my drink, put my mouth around the straw and took a sip of my drink.

Twilight smiled warmly. "I'm proud of you Matt; this could really mean a lot to Luna."

I then raised my head back up and looked at her. "I know, she did seem to cheer up when I told her all that. Anyway, should we get eating?"

Twilight looked down at her food. "Yeah, I'm starving." She then lowered her head down and took a bite out of her grass and daisy salad.

As I watch her eat, I was in deep thought. "Ok Matt, now's a good time to tell her how you feel. No distractions this time." I thought.

I was about to say something before Twilight cut me off. "Matt, can I tell you something?"

I decided to let her go first. "Sure Twi, what is it?"

Twilight then started tapping her front hooves together with a nervous look on her face. "Errr Matt, we've been dating for a while now and I think it's time we faced a big obstacle in our relationship, please don't freak out but…."

"Is she going to say it first?" I wondered. "Yes." I said with a smile growing on my face.

"I got a letter earlier today from my parents and they're coming to the library tomorrow." She finished.

My eyes then went wide as I was stunned in shock. "Matt? Are you ok?" Twilight asked nervously.

I then snapped out of my shock. "Oh…yeah, I look forward to meeting them." I said with a forced smile.

Twilight then exhaled in relief. "Thank goodness, just don't worry ok! I'm sure they'll love you." She said sweetly.

My forced smile then turned into a small one. "Alright Twi, now…lets enjoy the rest of the night! Alright?"

"Ok Matt, we'll plan what to do tomorrow." She said with a warm smile before going back to eating her food.

As I started to eat my food, I still couldn't help but feel a bit worried about meeting Twilight's parents tomorrow.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Note: Feel free to say no, but if any of you want to make fan art of my story? Feel free to do so. This is just a suggestion, not a request.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	20. Chapter 20: Meeting her parents

Chapter 20: Meeting her parents 

Today was the day that I was going to meet Twilight's parents and I must say; I'm feeling pretty calm about it….Oh who am I kidding? I'M FREAKING OUT.

**Canterlot Castle: training hall**

I was trying to throw my green shield discs at a target on the wall but I was having trouble because my mind was too busy thinking about how I was going to impress Twilight's parents.

I then decided to worry about that later and focus on my training. I then threw another green disc at the target and it hit the bulls-eye which activated a switch that made two more targets on stands pop up on the other side of the room.

I spun around fast and made two green discs in my hooves before I threw them at the same time. They hurled across the room until they sliced right through the targets; cutting them in half.

While I was doing that, Luna was staring at me dreamily "Wow….he's so…athletic…and I can't believe I've never noticed how much his coat shines when he makes those shield discs appear. And he's just so….so…"

"Hey Princess, I've hit all the targets. Should we take a break before I go?" I asked breaking Luna's train of thought.

Luna then snapped back into reality. "What?...oh yes, lets!" she said before her horn glowed and the round stone table appeared in the middle of the room.

Me and Luna then sat by it and I placed my saddle bag on the table before reaching into it and pulled out two apples for us both.

As I was chewing on the chunk of apple, I noticed Luna wasn't eating her apple but instead, looking at me with a smile on her face.

I gave her a confused look. "Princess, are you ok? You're not eating." I asked with a slight concerned tone.

"Oh please forgive me! I was….just wondering if you were alright. I've noticed that you seemed a bit off today." Luna said as an excuse.

"Sorry, my mind's been elsewhere today. I'm just nervous about meeting Twilight's parents this afternoon." I explained.

Luna raised her eye brow in surprise. "You're meeting Twilight Sparkle's parents? That's should be nice." She said with a small smile.

My ears lowered slightly. "Yeah, except I have no idea how I'm going to impress them. I mean, if I make a bad example they'll probably say I'm no good enough for Twilight and….I don't even want to think about what they might do." I then dug my head into my hooves in worry.

Luna tapped her chin with her hoof before she came up with an idea. "Why not do something fancy like…making them dinner or something?"

I then realized it wasn't a bad idea and I raised my head out of my hooves. "Wait a minute, that's it. I'll make them dinner; I always was good at cooking anyway. Luna you're a genius….oh I mean, Princess you're a genius." I said with a sheepish smile.

Luna smiled and blushed slightly. "It's alright; you can call me Luna if you wish."

I smiled back. "Ok…Luna. Well, gotta get goin' so here; have the rest of my apples as a thank you present." I then grabbed my saddle bag and poured the rest of my apples on the table in front of Luna. "See ya, and thanks again." I said as I got up and galloped out the training hall.

While Luna watched me go, she sighed dreamily.

**That afternoon: Ponyville library**

I was standing next to the bathroom waiting for whoever was to come out. Spike then walked up behind me with Peewee on his shoulder. "Hey Matt, what are you doing?"

I turned my head to face him. "Waiting for whoever's in the bathroom to come out, they've taking forever." I said in a slight irritated tone.

Spike crossed his arms. "It must be Twilight, she always hogs the bathroom."

Peewee nodded in agreement. "Yeah. One time, she was in there for a whole hour just to comb her mane."

"Excuse me, that was because I was wanted to make sure I looked my best for my spare day with Rarity." Twilight said as she walked up behind Spike and Peewee.

I then rolled my eyes. "Oh no. If you're here, then that means only one thing. Jeff's the one hogging the bathroom, figures." I said in annoyance.

We all then heard somepony whistling behind Twilight and we all looked to see Jeff walk towards us holding a scrub-brush in his wing and a towel wrapped around his waist.

He then noticed us and face winged himself. "Ah man, there's always a line."

I then got confused. "Wait! If you're there….then who's in the bathroom?"

We all then heard the toilet flush and we looked at the door to see Pinkie Pie walk out the bathroom with a towel wrapped around the top of her head.

"Pinkie? What are you doing in our bathroom?" Twilight asked with a raised eye brow.

Pinkie Pie smiled. "Oh funny story. You see, I really needed a bath because I spent all day playing in the dirt but my drain was clogged and your house was the closest one to mine so I came in and took a bath but then I really needed to use the toilet because earlier today I drank 20 cups of chocolate milk and the toilet was right there so I used it, and when I came out, you asked me what I was doing in your bathroom so I told you I really need a bath because-"

"Yeah, we were here for that part Pinkie." I said cutting her off.

"So you just came in here without telling us?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, was I supposed to tell you before I went in?" Pinkie asked in a curious tone.

"It would make us feel a little more comfortable with it, yeah." Jeff said with his eye narrow.

"Anyway Pinkie, I hate to sound rude but you have to leave now." I said as I pointed to the door to the front room.

"Okie dokie lokie." Pinkie Pie said cheerfully before she hopped into the next room, we then heard the front door open and close; telling us that Pinkie had left.

"Well, that was kinda awkward." Twilight said with a raised eye brow.

"Yeah. Anyway, I'd better take my shower. Don't want to smell when I meet your parents." I said before I walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind me. Twilight, Spike and Peewee then walked into the other room to prepare everything for when Twilight's parents arrive.

Jeff continued to wait outside the bathroom. "Save me some hot water dude!" Jeff yelled through the door.

Once in the bathroom, I walked up to the shower and turned the shower nob to turn on the water. Once the water stared shooting out the shower head, I stepped into the shower and closed the shower curtains.

It took a few seconds to get use to the temperature of the water but I managed to get right under the warm shooting water and started scrubbing myself with soap and a sponge.

20 minutes later, I stepped out of the shower and shook the water off my body until I was completely dry.

I then unlocked the bathroom door and walked out. "It's about time." Jeff said as he walked passed me and into the bathroom.

I walked into the dining room to see that everything was all set for dinner. The large table was ready with plates, glasses and candles. Twilight was standing next to the table lighting the candles with her magic.

I then walked up beside her and she turned her head to face me. "Well, everything's all set. Now we just need to wait for them to arrive. This is gonna be great." She said with a smile.

I smiled back. "Yeah…great." My smile then turned into a frown as I became nervous again and looked down at the floor.

Twilight noticed and placed her hoof on my shoulder. I then looked at her to see her sweet smile. "Everything's gonna be fine Matt, just be yourself."

My ears then lowered. "But that's just it, what if they don't like me for myself? I mean for instance, your talent is being good at magic while mine's just being good at video games. What if they see that talent as a waste of time and say I'm not good enough for you?"

Twilight gave me an honest look. "Oh come on Matt! My parents aren't that strict, I'm sure they'll like you of you. The one thing that'll show them you're a good coltfriend is honesty."

"I know Twi…don't worry! I'm not gonna make up stuff to be accepted. I almost lost you once that way; I don't plan on doing it again." I said while looking into her eyes.

Twilight continued to smile warmly at me. Me and Twilight looked deep into each other's eyes until we heard a knock on the front door. We both walked into the front room and looked towards the front door.

Twilight then walked up to the door and opened it with her magic, revealing her parents with smiles on their faces.

"Mom, Dad." Twilight greeted as they all shared a hug.

"Twilight, how are you sweetie?" Twilight's mum said as she hugged Twilight.

They all then broke the hug. "I'm fine, I'm so glad you both made it here." Twilight said in a happy tone.

"We're never too busy to visit our little angel." Twilight's dad said with a smile.

"Sooo…where's this coltfriend of yours? You never stop mentioning him in your letters." Twilight's mum said with a small grin.

Twilight then stepped to the side to let her parents get a good sight of me. "Mom, Dad, this is my coltfriend Matthew." Twilight said as she pointed at me.

I waved my hoof slightly. "Hello." I said before I laughed nervously.

Twilight's parents then walked up to me. Once they were right in front of me, Twilight's dad held out his hoof and I grabbed it with mine before we started shaking them up and down. "Hello Matthew, I'm Crescent and this is my wife Star Sparkle. It's nice to finally meet you." he said with a smile.

I smiled back. "The pleasure's all mine sir."

We then let go of each other's hooves and Star tapped her chin while looking at me with a wondering face. "Matthew?...wasn't that the name of the pony from the newspaper yesterday honey?"

Crescent thought for a moment. "Yeah it was. You're that Matthew? The one who discovered the seventh Element with his friends?" he asked me.

"Errr yeah…and Twilight and the rest of our friends were the ones who discovered it with me." I said getting nervous again.

"You're the Element of bravery?" Star asked me with a suspicious look.

"Yeah." I said with a nervous look.

The two were silent for a moment before they both smiled. "That means you're the one who saved the Princess and all of Canterlot from that awful Thorn character. You're a real hero." Star said with a large smile.

I smiled as I blushed in embarrassment. "Well…I wouldn't really call myself a hero."

"You're a hero to me." Twilight said sweetly as she walked up to me.

I couldn't help but feel heart warmed by her comment. "Thanks Twi. Anyway, should we go into the dining room? Dinner will be ready soon." I said with a warm smile.

They all nodded in agreement before we all headed towards the dining room. Once we entered the next room, Crescent and Stars jaws dropped in awe at the beautiful sight of the large dinner table.

Crescent and Star sat down on the chairs next to each other by the table while I pulled Twilight's chair for her to sit down in. once she sat down on the chair, I gently pushed her to the table before I walked over to the door that lead to the kitchen.

"Well, he's certainly a gentlecolt." Star complimented.

"Yeah, he's a sweet heart. And….I just know he's the one." Twilight said quietly as she watched me walk into the kitchen.

Crescent and Star looked at each other and then back at Twilight with warm smiles on their faces. "Well if you feel that way about him, then you should tell him." Star said.

Twilight then had an unsure look on her face. "I don't know if I can. I don't want to come on too strong…and what if he doesn't feel the same way about me?" she said in a worried tone.

Star gave her a sweet smile. "It's ok to be nervous about telling a colt how you truly feel. In fact, on the night your father told me he loved me; he was so nervous that when he finally said it, he nearly fainted."

Twilight and Star couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Really?" Twilight asked while still laughing.

Star stopped laughing and nodded. "Yes…and when he calmed down, I told him I loved him back and one thing lead to another and….here we are."

"You see Twilight! If you keep something as powerful as love trapped inside, it could make you sick. And if you don't tell him soon, you could lose him." Crescent said.

Twilight then became slightly worried until she made her decision. "Ok…the next time we have some privacy, I'll try to tell him."

Crescent gave her a warm smile. "That's my girl."

Hearing this made Twilight smile back warmly.

Meanwhile, I was in the kitchen putting the food on the plates. We were having the same as always, grass and daisy salad only it was cooked this time. Since there were four plates, I had to stick my wings flat out and balance one plate on each while I balanced one on my back and one on the top of my head.

I slowly re-entered the dining room and Twilight looked over to me and saw that I was struggling. "Errr, let me help you there Matt!" she said with a sweet smile.

Her horn then glowed and all the plates levitated off me and placed themselves on the table in front of Twilight, Star, Crescent and an empty space next to Twilight.

I then walked around the table to the empty space and sat down on the chair so I was next to Twilight. We all then started eating the salads.

"Mmmm, this is delicious. Did you make this Matthew?" Star asked.

"Yeah, I always had a talent for cooking back where I came from." I answered with a smile.

Crescent looked up from his food to face me. "Oh, is cooking your special talent?"

My smile then faded. "Errr…well…not exactly."

Star gave me a curious look. "Really? Then what is your talent?"

I hesitated for a second before turning my head to Twilight and she gave me a warm smile as she nodded.

"Errr…I'm…kind of a video game champion so…I have a game controller as a cutie mark." I said nervously.

Crescent and Star were silent for a second before Crescent smile. "Really? I was kind of a video game player myself when I was you age."

I gave him a slight shocked look. "Really?"

Star smiled and waved her hoof. "Oh we both were. In fact, we had most of our dates at the arcade. I spent so much of my parents money and they kept getting so angry when I did."

Crescent turned his head to face Star. "My parents were the same, we then decided to stop going there and find a different talent…and we did." Crescent and Star then showed me their cutie marks.

"So….there's nothing wrong with video games being my special talent?" I asked with a hopeful smile.

"Of cause there isn't, why would you think there would be?" Star asked with a raised eye brow.

I waved a hoof. "No reason, it's cool now. How about we finish our food!"

Crescent and star then decided to drop the subject and we all went back to eating our salads.

After we finished eating, we were all lounging on the chairs with full stomachs. "That was wonderful. Matthew, you didn't do all this just for us did you?" Star asked while rubbing her stomach.

"Well, you are Twilight's parents and you deserve the best." I said with an honest smile.

Crescent and Star then looked at each other with warm smiles before looking back to me with the smiles still on their faces. I smiled warmly back.

Twilight then got off her seat before her horn started to glow and all the empty plates levitated off the table and hovered in front of her as she walked towards the kitchen. "Matt, can you help me in the kitchen?"

"Sure Twi." I said before I got off the chair and followed Twilight into the kitchen.

Once in the kitchen, Me and Twilight started washing the dishes. "Twi this is going great." I cheered quietly.

"I know, they really like you. Now we just need to make sure nothing embarrassing happens and tonight will be perfect." Twilight said as she washed the dishes with her magic.

I smirked. "And what embarrassing thing do you think might happen?"

"I don't know…anything really." She answered while focusing on the dishes.

My smirk changed into a devious grin. "You mean like…making you laugh so loud that your parents would hear it from the other room?"

Twilight turned her head to face me. "And how are you going to do that?" she asked with a raised eye brow.

I then turned my head around to face my wings, grabbed one of my feathers with my mouth, plucked it out and slowly walked towards Twilight while pointing the feather at her.

"Matt…no…don't even think about it." Twilight said with a giggly smile as she backed away.

As I got closer to her, she turned around and galloped away. I then started chasing her around the kitchen. I eventually caught up with her and stared tickling her side.

"Hahaha…Matt..stop..hahaha." Twilight laughed as we continued galloping around the kitchen.

I then tackled her to the floor and pinned her down by the hooves before I started tickling her chest, which made her laugh uncontrollably loud.

I then stopped to let Twilight calm down. Once she did, we looked deep into each other's eyes as we smiled sweetly at each other.

"Awww, that's so cute." A voice said across the room. Me and Twilight then looked in the direction the voice came from to see Crescent and Star smiling at us from the door way.

I then quickly got off Twilight and spat the feather out my mouth. "Errr…we were just…I was…oh boy." I said nervously while Twilight got up off the floor.

"Twilight, would you go back in the dining room with your mother please! I want to speak with Matthew for a moment." Crescent said as he approached us.

I gulped hard as Twilight walked passed her father and went back into the dining room with Star; leave me alone in the kitchen with Crescent.

I then became worried. "Ok it's not what it looks like, we were just playing. I wasn't trying anything." I said in a slight scared tone.

Crescent raised his hoof. "Matt calm down, I wasn't suspecting you of anything. I know you were just tickling her….and I must say, you two make an adorable couple." he said with a warm smile.

All my worry then faded away and I gave a small smile. "Really?"

Crescent nodded. "Yes, I've never seen her so happy. She truly does have a heart for you…and I know that you have a heart for her. She's told us how you saved her from that Thorn guy by taking that bolt of magic that burnt your arm."

I then gave him an honest look. "And I'd do it a thousand times again if it meant keeping her safe….I'd never forgive myself if something happened to her."

Crescent grinned slightly. "Sounds to me like you're in love with her."

I blushed slightly and looked down at the floor. "I….I…"

I was cut off by the feeling of a hoof on my shoulder. I looked up to see Crescent smiling warmly at me. "It's ok if you're in love with her Matt, me and Star think you're perfect for her. You just need to tell her how you feel."

"I do love her but….does she feel the same about me?" I said with my ears low.

Crescent chuckled. "You know Matt! You remind me of myself when I was your age, I was unsure if Star loved me as much as I loved her. But I knew I had to find out the truth, so I told her and she told me she loved me back…and that's what you need to do."

"I know…but how?" I asked.

Crescent came closer to me. "Here's what you do!...you take her somewhere private, look her deep in the eyes and tell her. Trust me! If you tell her, it'll make her be happier than ever."

I raised an eye brow. "How can you be so sure?"

Crescent gave me a warm smile. "Because she feels the same way, it's obvious she does. I'm surprised you can't see it."

I then thought hard about it and it did seem likely that she did feel the same way. Her kindness towards me, the sadness she felt when I almost left Ponyville, how she comforts me when I'm sad or worried. It all lead to it.

I then made my decision. "Ok, I'll tell her….tonight."

Crescent smiled. "Good, I think it's time for me and Star to leave anyway." He then turned around and walked towards the door.

I tilted my head. "Really? You don't have to g-"

"No, it's getting late and you and Twilight have a lot to talk about." Crescent said; cutting me off.

I didn't want to argue with him so I decided to leave it and follow him back into the dining room.

Once back in the dining room, Crescent told Star that it was time for them to go and they both walked out of the dining room and towards the front door with Me and Twilight following behind.

When we reached the front door, Crescent opened the door with his magic before he and Star turned around to face us. "Well Matthew, it was nice meeting and I wish you two the best." Crescent said.

"It's been nice meeting you too." I said as I shook his hoof.

Crescent then let go of my hoof and turned his attention to Twilight. "Goodbye Twilight, be a good girl ok!" he said with a warm smile.

"I will, come visit again soon." Twilight said sweetly as she hugged him and Star.

They all then broke the hug and Crescent and Star walked out the front door. Me and Twilight walked to the door way and waved them off. "Bye Mom, bye Dad." Twilight yelled as she waved.

"Bye sweet-heart." Star yelled back as she looked back while continuing to walk away with Crescent.

Crescent looked back at us. "Bye angel. And Matthew, remember what we talked about!" he said before he winked at me with a smile.

I gave him a small nod. We then watched Crescent and Star walk away further into Ponyville until they were out of sight. Once they were, Me and Twilight walked back into the library and I closed the door behind us.

Me and Twilight then looked at each other. "Well that went way better than I thought." I said cheerfully.

Twilight nodded. "I told you they would like you. By the way, what did you and my Dad talk about in the kitchen?"

"Oh…that….errr..I'll tell you later." I answered.

"Oh…ok." Twilight said before she walked away into the other room.

"How the friv am I gonna do this?" I thought nervously.

**That night**

Spike, Jeff and Peewee had already gone to bed and were fast asleep. Me and Twilight were the only ones still up.

"Ok Matt, you can do this. Just go in there, look her in the eyes and tell her how you feel. This time, nothings gonna stop me." I said to myself as I approached the door to the room with the fireplace.

Once I reached the door, I slowly opened it to see Twilight lying down in front of the fire place reading a book while enjoying the warmth of the fire.

I gulped hard before I walked into the room and up to Twilight. I then tapped her shoulder which caused her to flinch in fright.

"Matt….you scared me." she said holding her hoof against her heart.

"Sorry…errr Twilight, can I speak to you?" I asked nervously.

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "Sure Matt, what is it?"

I then lied down next to her and took a deep breath. "Twilight…I…we've been together for a while now and…I want to tell you that I….I.."

As I was trying to say it, I looked at the sweet look on her face and my heart melted until I couldn't hold it anymore. "I…I love you Twilight."

She looked at me in surprise. "What?"

"I love you…I've loved you for a while now but I've never had the guts to tell you." I admitted.

Twilight was silent for a second and I was starting to worry until a warm smile came on her face. "Matt….I love you too."

I looked at her in surprise and shock. "Really?" I asked quietly.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah…ever since that night at the Ponyville dance…I knew you were the one." She said sweetly.

I couldn't believe what I just heard, she loves me...she actually loves me. I smiled warmly back before we moved in slowly and share a deep passionate kiss.

After a few minutes, we broke the kiss and looked deep into each other's eye while feeling the love we shared.

Twilight then nudged closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder before she closed her eyes.

I looked at her and smiled lovingly before I rested my head against hers and closed my eyes. While I had my eyes closed, I couldn't help but shed one tear of happiness before we both fell asleep in each other's warmth and love.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle**

Luna was in her bedroom; lying on her bed while looking up at the ceiling in deep thought.

"Why do I feel so different around Matthew? Why do I always feel happier around him? I mean, he's a nice colt. We've only recently met and he doesn't care about what I did when I was Nightmare Moon. He's the first pony to not become afraid when we first meet. Twilight Sparkle is a very lucky pony to have a coltfriend as good as him….so why can't I stop thinking about him?" Luna thought.

Luna's eyes then went wide once she realized what she was feeling. She then leaned up on the bed with her eyes still wide. "Oh no…I think I've…got a crush on Matthew." She said to herself in a shocked voice.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	21. Chapter 21: Sweet and elite

**This chapter is based in the episode **_**Sweet and elite**_**. I do not own this episode. I've added and changed some things.**

**I'll be making a few episode chapters and they'll all be part of the story's plot.**

**Warning: long chapter.**

Chapter 21: Sweet and elite 

It's been a day since I confessed my feelings to Twilight and since then we've been feeling closer than ever before. My heart melts every time I look into her beautiful eyes. I've never been happier in my life.

During that time, Rarity's been planning to stay in Canterlot for a few days and she wanted me to come with her to help her.

With Twilight's birthday coming up soon, I didn't think I was right for me to go but she insisted. Given Twilight's kind and thoughtful ways, she suggested I go with Rarity and I just couldn't say no to her loving face.

Twilight had already sent a letter to Princess Celestia telling her that we were coming and she's given us a room at the castle to stay in while we're there.

Me, Twilight, Rarity and the rest of the main 6 said our goodbyes at the train station. I was carrying all the luggage and DAMN…how many bags does Rarity need?

While we were at the station, I promised Twilight that I'd be back in time for her birthday and that I'd get her a present for her from Canterlot. We then shared a loving goodbye before me and Rarity got on the train and set off to Canterlot.

After arriving in Canterlot and reaching the castle grounds, we met up with Princess Celestia and she led us to our suite.

While Celestia and Rarity were climbing the stairs of the tower where our suite was, Me and a bell-hop pony were each carrying half the luggage on our back. We were both struggling but we pulled through.

Once we reached the top of the tower, Rarity and Celestia entered the room with Me and the bell-hop pony following behind.

Once Rarity saw the room, her eye's widened as she gasped slightly. "Here? We get to stay here?" she said in delight.

"Twilight Sparkle said you were both coming to Canterlot for a visit and asked if I might accommodate you." Celestia said as Rarity marvelled at the room.

"Thank you so much Princess." Rarity said as Opal got comfy on the bed.

"You're very welcome." Celestia said with a smile.

Rarity then shot right up to Celestia. "No really, this is so nice of you."

"It's nothing, really." Celestia claimed.

Rarity shook her head slightly "Oh but it isn't nothing, it's everything. I-I just don't know what to say but thank you..thank you."

Rarity then got down the Celestia's front hooves and started kissing them repeatedly. "Thank you…thank you..thank you, thank you, thank you…." She said between kisses.

"Rarity, try to show some dignity." I said while trying to keep myself standing.

Rarity then stopped kissing Celestia's hooves. "You're very wellc-"

"Thank you." Rarity said; interrupting Celestia with a large smile on her face.

The bell-hop pony then moaned beside me, Rarity and Celestia then turned their heads to face us. "Your luggage madmazel." He said as we both struggled to keep ourselves standing.

"I'll leave you to get settled." Celestia said as she walked towards us.

"Your highness." The bell-hop pony said as he tried to bow. "Say hi to Discord for me!" I said.

Celestia looked down at me with a smile. "I will, enjoy your stay you two." She said as she walked passed me and out the door.

Once Celestia left, Rarity jumped out the door. "Thank you." she yelled down to Celestia.

"Errr…where would you like us to put these?" the bell-hop pony asked with a forced smile.

"Yeah, these things are starting to get a little too…HERE WE GO." I yelled as we both lost our strength and fell to the floor with all the bags falling on top of us.

I was completely buried in the luggage. "That's perfect." I heard Rarity say from under the luggage.

******20 minutes later: Celestia's bedroom**

Celestia entered her bedroom to see Discord was getting off the bed. The sight of this made her smile. "I'm glad to see you're feeling better Discord."

Discord then stretched his arms up. "Yep, I feel like a new spirit. It's taken a few days but I'm finally back in the game."

Celestia smiled warmly. "I glad to hear that, does this mean you'll be returning to Ponyville to stay with Twilight and Matthew?"

Discord's ears lowered. "Oh…yeah, about that…I don't really want to go back. I mean, Matt and Twilight are my friends but with their relationship growing; they'll be focusing a lot on each other and I think I'll just get in the way."

Celestia gave him a curious look. "Oh?...then where will you live?"

Discord then walked closer to Celestia. "That's what I want to ask you….I want to stay here in the castle..with you."

Celestia gave him a confused look. "You want to stay here with me?"

Discord's eyes shot open once he realized how it sounds. "Oh I don't mean here as in…this room. I mean, in a separate room. Dah, I don't mean in a separate room with you. You can have this room back and I can have my own room. Although, it would be nice if you visit my room sometimes. Errr…not that you have to….I mean…oh dear." Discord then blushed from embarrassment.

Celestia couldn't help but giggle. "Discord…I'd be delighted if you stayed here." she said with a sweet smile.

A small smile then came on to Discord's face. "You would?"

Celestia nodded. "Yes, you can stay in one of the quest rooms down the hall. I'll show you to it." She then turned around and walked out the door with Discord following behind with a warm smile on his face.

**A few minutes later: Canterlot café**

Me, Rarity and Opal were sitting by a table in the café. Rarity was wearing a large pink hat while admiring the sights. While she had a cup of coffee, I had a simple glass of water with a straw because I didn't like coffee.

The streets were filled with rich looking ponies, everything looked so civilized and posh. It sucked.

"Matt, Opal, do you know what I love about Canterlot?" Rarity asked me.

"No what? I asked as she took a sip of her coffee. "Everything." She answered.

"I may have been born in Ponyville but I…am a Canterlot pony at heart." She added.

"I could never be a Canterlot pony, they're far too snobby for my ta-" I stopped talking once I saw that she was looking at me with narrow eyes.

"I not saying you're snobby. If you lived here, you'd be the least snobbiest pony here. Besides from Celestia, she's not snobby. If you lived here, you both would be the least snobbiest." I said trying to make up for my earlier comment.

"Good save Matt. Anyway, I know that we're here to pick up some fabrics for the shop. But Twilight was such a dear to get me that suite at the castle; I simply must make her something to express my gratitude." Rarity said as she thought about what to make.

She then noticed a pony in a well-made dress walk by and she got an idea. "Oh…an outfit for her birthday party this weekend, perfect. And Matt, you can make it your present to her." Rarity suggested.

I tapped my chin as a smile came on my face. "Yeah, that could work. Why buy a present when we can simply make it." I said in a cheerful tone.

"That's right, don't you just love it here Opalescence?" Rarity asked. Opal did nothing but stare at her.

As Me and Rarity took a sip of our drinks, two shadows casted over our table which caught our attention. We both looked to where who was forming the shadows to see two smart looking unicorn ponies standing next to our table looking at us.

Rarity quickly put her cup down but the coffee left some foam on her nose. I noticed and made a fake coughing nose which got Rarity's attention. Once she was looking at me, I pointed at my nose.

She knew I was trying to tell her something so she looked down at her nose to see the foam and quickly wiped it off.

"Please excuse our interruption! I'm Jet Set and this is my wife Upper Crust. We saw you from across the café and just had to find out.." Jet Set then stopped talking.

"Where did you get that simply marvellous chapeau?" Uppercrust finished.

I raised an eye brow. "Chapeau?...must be talkin' about her hat. It's the only thing she has." I thought.

Rarity then tilted her hat a bit. "Huh this old thing? Oh it's just something I-"

"RARITY." I voice suddenly yelled from above Rarity as drops of water dripped on her hat.

We both looked up to see a pony with buck-teeth washing a window with a brush in his mouth. From the sound of it, he had some sort of hillbilly accent.

"HAY RARITY." He yelled before a rope on the strap keeping him up snapped and he fell but the second rope was attached to his leg so when he fell; he was dangling upside down in front of Rarity.

"Who the friv is this hillbilly?" I said to myself with an eye brow raised.

"It's me, Hayseed Turnip Truck. We met at the big how-down at Ponyville last fall." Hayseed said as he continued to dangle upside down.

"Hayseed what-now?" I said chuckling slightly.

"Oh…yes. Of cause….how are you?" Rarity asked with a forced smile.

"Good, real good." Hayseed answered in a cheerful way before the rope on his leg snapped and he fell to the ground.

Me and Rarity then heard Jet Set and Upper Crust make a critical hum. "You're from…Ponyville?" Jet Set asked with a raised eye brow.

"Well ye-yes but err." Rarity tried to explain before Hayseed wrapped his are behind her.

"She sure is, she's a real big-time fancy pants dressmaker there. Probably made that real purty thing she's got on her head." Hayseed said as he rubbed Rarity's head which caused her hat to shake.

"I thought it looked a little…country." Upper Crust said to Jet Set in an unimpressed tone.

"I told you it wasn't something you could get here in Canterlot dear." Jet Set said

"Hmph!" they both said as they shot their chins up and walked away with their eyes closed.

"Well aren't they a pocket full of sunshine" I said in an angry way as I watched them go. Rarity was bighting down on her lower lip with tears slightly forming in her eyes as also watched them go.

"Well they seemed real nice." Hayseed said as he waved his hoof fast.

Rarity then let out a disappointed sigh.

**Later: Our suite**

Me and Rarity walked into our suite and Rarity sat down in the middle of the room before she closed the door with her magic.

I could tell by the look on her face that she was upset. I let out a small sigh before I walked up and sat down beside her. "Hey…don't listen to them alright!...what do they know about fashion? Besides from the fact that they don't have it." I said in a comforting voice before chuckling slightly

I soon stopped chuckling once I realized it wasn't helping. Rarity then had a slightly angered look on her face and she got up and walked towards her designing table.

"Looked a little country." Rarity said before she used her magic to lift her hat off her head and place it on the bed. "Not something you can get here in Canterlot." She said as she levitated a sheet of paper on her designing table and her designing glassed over her eyes.

"I'll show you something worthy of Canterlot." She said in an assertive tone as she started drawing a new design. After a short while, she finished her design.

I walked over to her and looked at it. It did look like something somepony would wear in Canterlot and it wasn't bad ether. "Is that Twilight's dress?" I asked while looking at it in amazement.

Rarity turned her head to face my. "Yes, this will show those high class ponies that ponies from Ponyville aren't as country as they think we are."

I then looked at her and a smirk came on my face. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's do this!" I said before we high-hooved.

**Later: Canterlot streets**

Me and Rarity (with Opal in a cat carrier on her side) had been galloping around everywhere to collect fabrics and other things to help make Twilight's dress.

Me and Rarity were now quickly on our way back to the suite with bags filled with fabrics and stuff hovering around Rarity. "I have to get started right away, this new design is very ambitious and I've already written to Twilight to let her know she'll have something beyond fabulous to wear to her party and I've mentioned that it'll be your gift to her." She said while trotting along with me trotting behind her.

I then came up beside her. "Yeah thanks. Knowing you handy work, she's gonna love it. This is gonna be awes-UMF." I couldn't finish my sentence as we both bumped into somepony which caused us to fall backwards and Rarity to lose focus on levitating her bags.

I then got up off the ground and rubbed my head before I looked at the pony we bumped into and noticed he had one of our bags over his head.

The white female unicorn with a light pink mane and tail who was next to him then pulled the bag off his head; revealing a smart looking white male unicorn with a blue mane and mustache.

"(Gasp)…Fancypants." Rarity gasped.

"Who's Fancypants?" I asked.

Rarity then quickly placed both her front hooves on my face and turned my head to face him. "That's Fancypants."

"I say, that's…one way to make a good introduction." Fancypants said in his posh voice as he brushed the dust off himself.

"Oh goodness…I am so sorry. I-I didn't see you there, I-I've just got so many bags and I was trying to get back to my sweet at the castle and…" Rarity tried to explain as we picked up the bags.

"You're..staying at the castle?" Fancypants asked as he levitated his monocle to his eye with his magic.

"The Princess invited me and my friend Matthew here to stay in one of her suites." Rarity said as we both continued to pick up the bags.

"You know the Princess?" Fancypants asked before he turned his head to face the female unicorn.

"Hmm, a pony with expensive taste I see." She said as she looked at one of our bags before she levitated it over to us before she wrapped her arms around Fancypants.

"Oh it's for an ensemble I'm making for a friend, her birthdays in a few days." Rarity said as she accidently shoved Opal in one of her bags.

"And…did you say your friends name was…Matthew?" Fancypants asked before he looked at me.

"Yeah…I'm Matthew." I answered with a raised eye brow.

"Tell me my boy! You wouldn't by any chance be the Matthew who saved Canterlot from being attacked by that Thorn character, are you?" he asked me.

I was surprised he knew that. "Yeah that was me, how'd you know about that?"

He smiled at me. "The newspaper travels in many different places Matthew…and I must say, your story intrigues me. Nopony in all of Equestria ever believed there would be a seventh Element; they said it was just an ancient myth. You and your friend probably made the biggest discovery of the century."

I smiled back. "Oh…thanks."

"Anyway we must be going, and I'm really sorry we bumped in to you." Rarity said as we both trotted passed Fancypants.

"I'm not." I heard Fancypants say behind me. Me and Rarity then turned around to face him.

Fancypants chuckled slightly. "You two…are obviously ponies worth bumping into."

Me and Rarity then smiled in delight. "Listen! I have a VIP box reserved at the Wonderbolts derby this afternoon. Would you…would you both be so kind as to join me and a few of my companions there hm?" Fancypants asked with a small smile.

"Us?" Rarity asked holding her hoof under her mouth.

"But of cause my dear." Fancypants answered.

"Well I-I'm..err..I..sure." Rarity answered in a stuttering tone.

Fancypants was preparing to walk away. "We'd love to see you both there errr..err."

"Rarity." Rarity finished.

"Rarity." Fancypants repeated as he walked away. The female unicorn then noticed he was leaving and shot off after him.

I looked at Rarity to see she had a large smile on her face. I gave her a slightly confused look. "But…Rarity, what about Twilight's dress?"

Rarity turned her head to face me. "Don't worry Matthew! We'll figure something out. Now come along! We have a lot to do." She said as she turned and trotted away with the bags hovering around her. I then started following her back to the suite.

**Our suite**

Rarity was pacing back and forth while I was leaning against the wall watching her.

"Pro, seeing the derby from a VIP box is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Con, going to the derby cuts into the amount of time I have to finish Twilight's outfit. Pro, Fancypants is _the_ most important pony in Canterlot. His stamp of approval could mean big things for me here. Con, Twilight's party might not be a sophisticated as the derby. But that doesn't mean I should put all of my energy into creating her birthday ensemble. My Ponyville friends will appreciate my hard work more than anypony….I'd hate to let them down." Rarity said as she though hard about it.

She then finally came up with a decision. "And I won't." she said as she walked into the next room.

"Matthew, we're going to the Wonderbolts as guests of Fancypants." Rarity said as she came back into the room wearing a pink hat with a flower and two large feathers on it.

Rarity then let out a scream of excitement while trotting on the spot. My eyes then went wide with worry. "What?...B-but Rarity, Twilight's birthday's in a few days. It usually takes you more than a few days to finish a design, how are you gonna get it done in time?"

Rarity raised her hoof. "Matthew, I promise you that the dress will be ready for Twilight's birthday. I'm just asking to do this one little thing and then I'll get started."

I thought about it for a moment before letting out a small sigh. "Fine ok, we'll go."

Rarity then locked me in a tight hug which made me choke. "Thank you Matthew, how can I ever repay you?" she said as she hugged me.

"By not squeezing me in half." I said struggling to breath.

"Deal." She said as she quickly let go of me. Once she did I gasped for air.

**That afternoon: Wonderbolts derby**

We arrived at the Wonderbolts derby and the stadium was packed with ponies.

"Pardon me, 'scuse me, 'scuse me." Rarity said to the ponies we passed as we climbed the stairs to the VIP box. Once we reached the top, I noticed Jet Set and Upper Crust staring at us in a slightly angered way. As we walked passed them, I stuck my tongue out at them but they turned around fast and I quickly pulled my tongue back in my mouth and continued to follow Rarity.

We reached the stairs that led to the VIP bow; the entrance had a purple rope across it and a royal guard standing next to it.

We walked in front of the guard and while Rarity was beating her eyes at him, I smiled nervously at him. The guard gave us an examining look.

At that moment, Fancypants came down the stairs and noticed us. "Rarity, Matthew, jolly good to see you. So glad you both could make it." He said as the guard unhooked the purple rope and moved it aside with his magic; allowing us the go through and up the stairs with Fancypants. Jet Set and Upper Crust mouths hug wide open at the sight of this.

Once we reached the top, our eyes went wide at the sight of other high class ponies approaching us. But it turned out they were only walking up to Fancypants and started talking to him.

"Everypony, this is Rarity and Matthew…they're staying at Canterlot castle." Fancypants said which made them all go wide-eyed before they all looked at us to see us. They all then started muttering to each other.

"Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the Wonderbolts derby…the competitors are taking their place at the starting line and the race will begin momentarily." We heard the announcer say.

"I'll be rooting for Rabid Fire, of cause. He's sure to take home the grand prize." Fancypants said before the high class ponies nodded in agreement.

"I don't think he has a chance against Fleetfoot." Rarity said causing the high class ponies to gasp slightly as they turned to face us.

Rarity then had a nervous smile grow on her face.

"I think Spitfire might win, if you ask me." I said causing everypony to then look at me.

"But nopony's asking me so….yeah." I said nervously shifting my eyes. Suddenly, the race horn blew and we all walked up to the barrier to watch the race.

Down by the tracks, the Wonderbolts were all in a line waiting to star. Once the referee blew his whistle, they all shot off. We all watched in awe as they kept flying around and around on the tracks.

"And it's Fleetfoot by a nose." The announcer cheered.

Rarity then jumped up and cheered. "Damn it, I never could win a horse race." I thought.

"Bravo Rarity. I say, how did you know Fleetfoot would be victorious?" Fancypants asked as he came up to us.

"My friend Rainbow Dash talks about her all the time. She says that what Fleetfoot lacks in size, she makes up for it in speed." Rarity answered with a small smile.

"And…who is this..Rainbow Dash?" a female high class pony asked.

"Errr." Was all Rarity said. I wondered why I was taking her a while to tell them who Rainbow Dash was. She then gulped hard. "Why…she's…she's the Wonderbolts…trainer, of cause." She said before giving them a nervous smile.

"Yeah, she's the Wonderbolts trai-wait what? Rarity, what ya talkin' abou-" I couldn't finish my sentence as Rarity shoved her hoof in my mouth.

Fancypants and the other ponies were silent for a moment. "Staying at Canterlot castle and she knows the Pegasus training the Wonderbolts. I told you all this was an important pony." Fancypants said breaking the silence. The high class ponies then agreed with him.

Rarity turned her head to face me and saw the annoyed look on my face before she took her hoof out my mouth. She then dabbed her cheeks with a handkerchief.

"Three cheers for Rarity and Matthew! My new favourite party guests" Fancypants said as he raised rarity's hoof up with his own.

"Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray." The high class ponies cheered.

As they did and Rarity winked in delight, all I could do was put on a forced smile but I was still upset with Rarity for actually lying.

**Later: Canterlot streets**

Me, Rarity and three of the high class ponies were walking down the streets of Canterlot. While we were, Rarity had been entertaining the ponies with unfunny jokes. But for some reason, they found them funny. I was starting to get of my nerves.

"And then I said, _please! That isn't a hat darling, that's a natural disaster that somehow landed on top of your head._" Rarity said before the high class ponies laughed in a posh way.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna puke." I thought while rolling my eyes.

"Oh you are a delight Rarity, an absolute delight. You and Matthew simply must attend my art gallery opening this evening." One of the female high class ponies said before laughing in a posh way.

"Oh…I-I'd love to but I-" Rarity couldn't finish her sentence as a male high class pony interrupted her.

"And let's not forget my charity auction tomorrow morning!" he said.

"That sounds wonderful but I-" Rarity was once again interrupted by the second female high class pony who turned Rarity's head with her hoof to face her.

"And of cause, there's a seat for you two at my dinner party tomorrow night." She said.

"I'm flattered…really. It's just I have a project a really need to get started on and err-" Rarity said.

"We really don't have time for things like auctions and dinner parties." I finished before we started to walk away from the high class ponies.

One of the female high class ponies the showed up to us. "Oh but Rarity, I may as well close down the whole gallery if you both can't attend." She said in a devastated tone.

"My auction is for charity dear, _for charity_." The male high class pony said cutting the other pony off.

"And my dinner party will be a disaster if you two don't come." The second female high class pony said cutting in between the two others.

They all looked at us with begging eyes. I was about the refuse the offers again until Rarity cut me off. "Of cause we'll be there." She said with a forced smile.

The three high class ponies rejoiced in delight. I was shocked at Rarity for saying that. What about the dress? What about Twilight's birthday?

I couldn't help but quietly groaned in frustration over this.

**Later: Our suite**

"Looks like we'll be spending a few more days here Matthew." Rarity said as she put a pink ribbon around one of her dress forms while going through her jewellery box.

"Turns out bumping into Fancypants like that was the best thing that's ever happened to Me." she said as she levitated a necklace in front of her neck while looking in the mirror.

I then walked up beside Rarity. "Yeah, he's a nice guy and all but we've been here for two days and you haven't even started on Twilight's dress." I said in a worried tone.

Rarity turned her head to face me. "Don't worry Matt! Finishing Twilight's dress in time for her birthday party is still my top priority….but we can't possibly disappoint the Canterlot elite by rejecting their invitations now, can we?"

I looked down at the ground and thought about it. "I…guess not." I said in an unsure voice.

Rarity nodded. "That's right, so does this mean you're coming?"

I nodded slightly. "Fine, I'll go."

"Good, now let's enjoy this while we can!" she then levitated a tiara out of the box with her magic and lifted it high up in the air. It did some flips before she brought it back down and placed it on her head.

**Rarity: **"_I'll be the toast of the town, the girl on the go_

_I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know_

_I'll be the one to watch, the girl in the flow_

_I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know."_

**Art gallery**

"_Becoming as popular as popular can be_

_Making my mark, making my mark in high society."_

**The next morning: Charity auction**

"_I'm the belle of the ball, the star of the show, yeah_

_I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know."_

**That night: Dinner party**

"_See how they hang on every word that I speak_

_My approving glance is what they all seek_

_I'm the crème de la crème, not just another Jane Doe_

_I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know."_

**Other parties all around Canterlot**

"_At home, at the opera, on a fancy yacht_

_Becoming the talk, the talk of all of Canterlot_

_I'm the crème de la crème, not just another Jane Doe, yeah_

_I'm the type of pony everypony, everypony should know."_

**That night: Our suite**

"_Because I'm the type of pony_

_Yes, I'm the type of pony_

_Yes, I'm the type of pony everypony should know."_

**The next day: our suite**

We were getting ready to leave and go back to Ponyville. I couldn't help but worry about what Twilight would think about her dress. With all the parties lately, Rarity hasn't made much of it.

It was just a short cream coloured dress with a pink ribbon around it. Twilight's expecting something fancy.

Me and the bell-hop pony were once again each carrying half the luggage on our backs and we were struggling to stand. "Oh I hope I haven't forgotten anything." Rarity said as she looked around the room.

"Me…..too." The bell-hop pony said as he struggled to stand.

"We better get going! I must get back to Ponyville with enough time to finish Twilight's ensemble." Rarity stated as she pulled Opal off the bed with her magic and shoved her in her cat carrier.

"It's about time too." I said as I tried to follow her towards the door.

Just then, a letter came through the mail slot. "For me?" Rarity said curiously before she levitated the letter off the floor and hovered it in front of her face as she read it.

"_Dearest Rarity and Matthew, your presents is requested at the Canterlot Garden party tomorrow afternoon. Yours Jet Set and Upper Crust." _Rarity then gasped in delight.

"The Canterlot Garden party! Why, next to the Grand Galloping Gala that is _the_ premier event in Canterlot." Rarity said before she let out an excited scream.

Her excited smile then turned into a concerned frown. "Ooh, but if I go I'll miss Twilight's birthday. But if I don't go, my new reputation in Canterlot as a very important pony might be ruined. I might never be invited to another high society event again. Friend's birthday? Very important pony?"

I watched as she held her breath while she thought hard. I was hoping she was going to make the right decision. "It's just too important."

"What?" I said to in a slightly devastated tone.

Rarity then picked up a sheet of paper and a quill with her magic and took a deep breath before she started wrighting a letter. "_My dear Twilight, I am afraid I won't be able to make it to your birthday party tomorrow because….BECAUSE POOR OPAL IS QUITE ILL. And she is in no condition to make the long journey back to Ponyville. I do hope you understand, your friend Rarity."_

"I suppose this means you don't need me to bring down your bags?" the bell-hop pony asked once Rarity finished wrighting her letter.

"No." Rarity answered with a smile.

I looked at the bell-hop pony to see he had a relived smile on his face. "But, I will need some help unpacking them." she added.

At that moment, Me and the bell-hop pony lost our strength again and collapsed to the floor with the bags falling on top of us.

I pulled myself out from underneath the bags and saw Rarity walk into the next room. I stood back up and I felt devastated. She would sooner go to a garden party then go to her friend's birthday party? At that moment, all my devastation turned to anger. "That's it; I'm putting my hoof down on this." I said to myself in an angered voice.

**The next day**

Rarity trotted into the main room wearing a yellow dress and flowers on her tale. "What do you think? Too much?" she asked Opal.

Opal did nothing but lick under her leg. "You're right, too little." Rarity said before placing a large yellow hat with pick flowers and light blue ribbons on her head with her magic.

"Garden party, here we come. Come along Matthew." Rarity said calling out to me. She then noticed that I wasn't in the room with her. "Matthew?"

I then stormed in from one of the other rooms while holding a brown suitcase in my mouth. Rarity noticed this and gave me a confused look. "Matt? What are you doing? What's with the suitcase?" she asked me as I walked over to her.

I then placed the suitcase down so I could speak. "I'm going back to Ponyville. I promised Twilight that I'd be there for her birthday and that's what I'm gonna do." I answered in an assertive tone.

Rarity then gave me a shocked look. "What? But Matt, this is our big chance to be like Canterlot ponies."

I gave her a serious look. "I already told you Rarity, I could never be a Canterlot pony. Because I live in Ponyville, all our friends are there and their happiness is more important than anything, or has your new found popularity made you forget that?"

Hearing what I said made Rarity go wide-eyed in shock. There was a moment silence between us until Rarity broke it. "Oh…Matthew…have you felt this way all this time?" she asked before I nodded.

"Then why didn't you say anything?" Rarity asked as she came closer to me.

"Because I know you've been waiting for an opportunity like this for a long time and I didn't want to ruin it for you so I just….went along with it. But its gone way too far for me now, I'm sorry Rarity but….Twilight's my girlfriend and this is the first birthday we'll share in our time together. Again…I'm sorry." I said with my ears low.

I then picked up the suitcase in my mouth and walked passed Rarity who had a slightly upset look on her face as she watch me walk towards the door.

Once I reached the door, I placed my hoof on it to open it. "Matthew." I heard Rarity say behind me.

I then turned around to see Rarity with an understanding smile on her face. "I understand Matt; this is a very important day for you and Twilight. So…you can go and I hope that….you can find a way to forgive me!"

I then put the suitcase down so I could speak again. "Yeah well…I don't hold a grudge against my friends. How 'bout we have a nice talk when you come to Ponyville?" I asked with a warm smile.

She smiled warmly back. "I'd like that."

I then nodded. "Ok then, well….see ya Rarity. I'll be sure to give Twilight you regar-AHH." I yelled after I opened the door to see Twilight and the rest of the main 6 standing behind it.

"SURPRISE." They all yelled. The sudden sight of her friends showing up here at this particular time caused Rarity to gasp and faint.

My eyes were wide in surprise. "Twilight….w-what are you doin' here?"

She stepped forward. "When I heard that Rarity couldn't make it, I asked Pinkie if we could move my party here." she explained with a joyful smile.

She then noticed the suitcase next to my hooves. "What's with the suitcase?" she asked curiously.

I looked down at the suitcase. "Oh that? I errr….was on my way to your party in Ponyville, I did promise I'd be there."

Twilight smiled. "Oh…well there's no need for that now, we're all here for the party."

I looked around and noticed something. "Where's Spike, Jeff and Peewee?" I asked.

"Oh, when the library was all set up for my party, Spike ate all the cupcakes and got a really bad stomach-ache. He had to stay behind with Jeff and Peewee who offered to take care of him while we came here." Twilight explained.

"Oh, well, we'll find a way to make it up to him." i said with a smile.

At that moment, we all heard Rarity start to wake up and we all gathered around her.

"Did you see her fall? She was like swoosh, right before she hit the ground, shoom, she- hi again." Pinkie Pie said to Rarity as she fully woke up.

Rarity then stood back up. "W-what are you?…how did you?…why are you?" she said in a confused tone.

"Listen to her! She so excited to see us she can hardly talk." Applejack said.

"What I mean to say is, what are you all doing here?" Rarity asked nervously.

"When I got your letter saying you were stuck in Canterlot, I asked Pinkie Pie if it wouldn't be too much trouble to move my birthday party here, so you wouldn't have to miss it." Twilight explained.

Pinkie Pie the leaned in closer to Rarity. "Balloons are super easy to pack." She said before she opened a suitcase and balloons burst out of it.

"Wow, first you get me and Matthew a suite at Canterlot castle and now this. I don't know what to say, Twilight." Rarity said with a warm-hearted look on her face.

Rainbow Dash then flew up to her face. "How about you start by saying what you're doing in that fancy get-up." She said giving Rarity a suspicious look.

"This? Err…well I…I always put on something a little fancy when…Opal's feeling under the weather haha, cheers her right up." Rarity said hoping they'd fall for it.

I then quietly face hooved myself.

Fluttershy then walked up to Rarity with a concerned look on her face. "Oh poor Opal, where is the sick darling?" she asked sweetly.

Fluttershy tried to look through the door but Rarity blocked her view. "Oh errr…she's…hold on a minute! Matthew can you come help me?" Rarity asked.

"Rarity, I was about to ask you the same thing." I said as I walked into the suite with Rarity before slamming the door behind me.

Once I did, I turned to Rarity with my eyes narrow. "Got anymore bright ideas?"

"Relax Matt, I have an idea." Rarity said before she levitated Opal off the bed and walked towards the bathroom with her. "I am so sorry about this." She said as she entered the bathroom.

I then heard the shower running and Opal screeching. "Oh my." I said with my hoof over my mouth.

Rarity then walked out of the bathroom with a completely soaked Opal hovering in front of her. She then placed Opal back on the bed before walking back to the door.

"You do know she's never going to forget that, right?" I said as Rarity place her hoof on the door.

"Yes, I do." Rarity answered before she reopened the door to see our friends waiting for us. "She's resting on the bed." She told them.

Fluttershy then shot passed Rarity and up to Opal. Fluttershy then picked her up while she was flapping in the air. "Poor baby, she looks awful." Fluttershy said as she hugged Opal tightly.

I looked up at Opal to see her growling down at us. While feeling slightly scared, I quickly pointed at Rarity who was standing next to me.

"Is…that my dress?" Twilight asked as she examined the dress.

"Yes." Me and Rarity answered nervously.

"It so simple, so practical, so ME. It's the perfect dress for my birthday party. I love it, thank you Matt." Twilight cheered as she pulled me into a warm hug before she gave me a loving kiss on the cheek that made me blush.

I then smiled and hugged back. "Awww." Everypony in the room said as they watched us.

Rarity then exhaled in relief. "You don't know how glad I am to hear you say that." She said before she waved her tale against the old design of Twilight's dress; causing it to blow off the table and land in the bin.

**Early that night: outside the ball room**

We were all walking down a hall outside the castle towards the castle ballroom.

Twilight had her new dress on and it actually looked good on her.

"When I told the Princess that I was moving the party to Canterlot, she was kind enough to offer us the Canterlot castle ball room." Twilight said before she opened the double doors revealing the ball room. The entire room was decorated with party decorations.

"Isn't it fancy pants?" Pinkie Pie asked with a large smile.

"Fancypants, where?" Rarity asked as she hid behind Rainbow Dash in fright. She then noticed they were all string at her in confusion.

"Err…I mean, where did you find the time to put up all these decorations? Haha." Rarity asked as she walked out from behind Rainbow Dash and into the ball room; hoping they didn't notice her frightened act.

"Oh I never leave home without my party cannon." Pinkie Pie said as she pulled a cannon out of nowhere.

I raised an eye brow. "Your party what?" I asked nervously.

"Here, I'll show you." Pinkie said before she pushed down on the flint and decorations shot out of the cannon; leaving a trail of confetti in the air. The decorations were set perfectly as they landed on a table. "Ta-da." Pinkie cheered.

Twilight then walked over to the window. "I thought about having my birthday outside. But they're having another party on the castle grounds today."

Me and Rarity looked out the window and went wide-eyed in fear after discovering that it was the garden party that we were invited to earlier. Me and Rarity hid behind the wall next to the window; hoping nopony saw us.

Pinkie Pie then slowly rose up between us. "LETS PARTY!" she yelled before pulling us both away from the window.

The party was wild. The gramophone was play jazzy music; it was actually a good tune. First we repeatedly threw Twilight up in the air, caught her and threw her up again.

Then we had some cake but Rainbow Dash threw some in Fluttershy's and Applejack's face. As she was laughing, we all gave her devious grins before throwing cake at her before we all burst out laughing.

Then we all danced the conga with Twilight in the front, followed by me, followed by Fluttershy, followed by Applejack, followed by Rainbow Dash and finally Rarity at the back.

As we did, Rarity looked out the window to the other party. "Errr…no reason I can't at least make an appearance." She said.

As we danced passed the window, Rarity somehow made it outside to the other party without any of us knowing.

Rarity walked through the entrance of the garden. "I'm here." she announced.

At that moment, Upper Crust walked up to Rarity. "Darling, I'm so glad made it." She said.

Fancypants then walked up to Rarity. "Rarity, so happy to see you here." he greeted.

"I wouldn't have missed this for the world." Rarity stated.

Fancypants then looked around before looking back at Rarity. "And…where's Matthew?" he asked.

"He…errr…couldn't attend, he had an important errand to run." Rarity said; hoping he'd believe her.

"Oh….well, let's hope he gets back soon. The night is still young, after all." Fancypants said. At that moment, Fancy Pants started sniffing the air.

"I say, what is that sent you're wearing? It smells like (sniff, sniff) is that…cake frosting?" he asked in a confused tone.

Rarity eyes widened before she came up with something. "Yes, I always like to dap a little frosting behind my ears before I go out, hahaha. After all, who doesn't like the smell of cake frosting?" she said nervously.

"I know I do." Fancypants said before Upper Crust nodded in agreement.

Rarity the exhaled in relief. "Well, all this talk about cake has made me hungry. Think I'll go and see what on the old dirt table, if you'll excuse me?" she said before she shot off into the garden.

A while later, Rarity returned to our party and we started playing piñata. I was trying to hit the same one Twilight was trying to hit while Rarity took off her blind fold and slowly backed away into the other party.

All night, Rarity kept going back and forth to each party. And each time, she came up with a different excuse to leave…until. "Err…what's with the croquet mallet?" Rainbow Dash asked with a raised eye brow while holding a balloon in her hooves.

"What croquet mallet?" Rarity muffled with the croquet mallet in her mouth.

"Duh, the one in your mouth!" Rainbow Dash said.

Rarity looked down at her mouth and dropped the mallet. "Haha, oh…that croquet mallet…I…well I. you know, the truth is…the truth is." Rarity tried to come up with something before Twilight cutted in.

"Were you at that other party in the garden?" Twilight asked with wide eyes.

"Busted." I thought as I bit down on my bottom lip.

"I…I..err." was all Rarity could say.

"Rarity, I'm surprised at you." Twilight stated.

Rarity then shot down to Twilight's front hooves. "Twilight, let me explain!...I."

"I hadn't realized you were such a savvy business pony." Twilight said with a small smile.

"You must understand!...I." Rarity tried to explain before Twilight cutted in again.

"All those ponies look so posh and with the Grand Galloping Gala coming up, I bet you could totally get some of them to buy your dresses. Very smart, what do you think Matt?" Twilight asked as she looked over to me.

"Oh…yeah, totally. Good idea, hahaha." I said as I laughed sheepishly.

"Woo, why yes, I-I didn't want you to think I was being rude so that's exactly the reason I didn't tell you. The one and only reason." Rarity said before laughing nervously.

Twilight smiled. "Oh well, you didn't have to do that. You should totally go over there and mingle!"

Rarity went wide-eye in surprise before giving Twilight a sweet smile. "Twilight, you really are the best friend a pony could ever ask for." Rarity then gave Twilight a loving hug. "I don't know why I ever thought you wouldn't understand."

"Understand what?" Twilight asked as Rarity continued hugging her.

Rarity's eyes then shot open. "Nothing." She answered quickly.

"See you girls later!" Rarity said as she let go of Twilight.

I then raised my eye brow. "Hey!" I moaned. Rarity then turned her head to face me. "Oh, and Matt. Of cause." She said with a sheepish smile before shooting off towards the door.

As Rarity trotted towards the door, Rainbow Dash flew up behind her. "Hey, wait up!" she called.

Rarity stopped and turned her head around to face her. "We're your friends, I'm sure they won't mind if we checked out the party too." Rainbow Dash said before she turned to us.

"Come on you guys! Let's show'em how to party Ponyville style." Rainbow Dash said.

I raised my hoof. "Err Rainbow, I don't think that's such a good i-" I couldn't finish my sentence as they all shot passed me and out the door. "-dea." I finished with my eyes narrow.

"Oh no." Rarity said with fear in her voice before shooting off after them.

"This…will not end well." I stated with my eyes still narrow before galloping after her.

When we came to the entrance of the garden, we watched in worry at the sight of our friends partying like crazy in the garden with all the high class ponies looked at them strangely.

Rainbow Dash was trying to hit a croquet ball with the mallet but ended up accidently letting go of the mallet as she swung it and it flew across the garden and knocked a wig off a high class mares head. I was surprised the mare didn't even notice.

Fluttershy was feeding some birds with bird seed above some high class ponies and got bird seed and feathers all over them

Pinkie Pie shoved her face in a cake and stated eating it like a pig.

Applejack was pulling flowers from the ground thinking that a garden party meant actual gardening. "How come ya'all aren't doin' any gardenin'? this is a garden party, isn't it?" she asked.

And Twilight was dancing funny dance moves to the music of the gramophone which made some of the high class ponies back away from her. I couldn't help but chuckle at her dance moves.

"Can you believe what that pony is wearing?" Jet Set said to me and Rarity.

"It's just so plain." Upper Crust added. I couldn't help but growl slightly at them for their comments about Twilight.

"Haha, yeah." Rarity said nervously.

As Twilight was dancing, Fancypants walked up to her and she stopped dancing to face him. "Excuse me! Might I ask where you got your…ensemble?" he asked as he used his magic to hover his monocle in front of Twilight's dress before placing it back over his eye.

Twilight smiled. "Why yes, yes you may. A very, very close friend of mine from Ponyville made it for me. And my sweet-hearted coltfriend who's also from Ponyville gave it to me as a present."

At that moment, Rarity did a spit-take before she galloped over to them. I noticed that Rarity accidently spat her drink all over Jet Set and Upper Crust. I then walked up to them. "Sorry." I said with a sheepish smile before galloping off after Rarity.

"Ponyville? You don't say?" Fancypants said with a raised eye brow.

"I _do _say, their names are-" Twilight couldn't finish her sentence as Rarity cutted in.

"Fancypants, come with me! I'd like to show you…this, errr, thing that's over there. On the other side of the room." Rarity said trying to get Fancypants to come with her.

Fancypants raised his hoof. "In a moment my dear, this lovely filly from Ponyville was just about to tell me who made her…charming dress and who gave it to her."

Rarity waved her hoof. "That dress? Oh come now! Who cares? It's just a plain old-"

"Oh don't be so modest! This dress you and Matt made is beautiful." Twilight said cutting in.

From hearing that, all the high class ponies gasped in shock as they all looked at me and Rarity. "We all think so." Twilight added.

Fancypants turned his head to face us. "You two know these ponies?" he asked us.

We were both silent as we saw Twilight and the others give us confused looks. Seeing Twilight's face like that made me want to say the truth but before I could, Rarity turned around and walked towards the high class ponies.

I watched her thinking she was going to choose them over us until she spoke. "Yes, yes we do know them. They may not be as sophisticated as some of you Canterlot ponies, but they are my best friends and they are without a doubt…the most important ponies I know."

I then gave Rarity a proud smile and she smiled sweetly back.

"Important ponies? These ruffians?" Jet Set asked. "Don't make me laugh!" Upper Crust said before she and Jet Set laughed in a snobby way.

I then stepped forward. "Hey, watch it! The unicorn in the _plain_ dress happens to be my girlfriend." I said in an angered voice.

The high class ponies then gasped again. "Yeah, I said it. She's my girlfriend and I love her with all my heart. And if you have a problem with it? You can just go jump in a muddy ditch." I snapped before I turned around and walked towards Twilight.

Jet Set gave me a sharp glare. "Fine, and you can just go back to Ponyville with your ruffian friends!" he and Upper Crust then laughed again which mad me grit my teeth.

When I walked up to Twilight's side, Fancypants turned his head to the high class ponies. "I for one, find them charmingly rustic."

After hearing that, Jet Set and Upper Crust stopped laughing and the other high class ponies gasped.

Fancypants then walked up to Twilight. "I think the dress you made for your friend is lovely and I find it absolutely adorable that you gave it to her as a present." He said to me and Rarity.

We both had a surprised look on our faces. "I dare say, every mare in Canterlot will be wanting one." Fancypants added.

Rarity had a large smile on her face before Upper Crust came up to her side. "Oh, I'd like to place my order right now." She said.

Jet Set then came up to Rarity's other side. "I think you should get two." He suggested. Rarity then shot off from between the two; causing them the bump their heads together.

Fancypants gave them an awkward look. "Er, yes, now then. How about you introduce me to your friends?" he asked Rarity.

"My pleasure!" she answered.

**The next day: our suite**

We were yet again preparing to leave and go back to Ponyville; Rarity was starting to wright a friendship report the Princess Celestia.

She grabbed a quill with her magic and started wright on a sheet of paper. "_Dear Princess Celestia, I wanted to tell you about the important lesson I learned during my visit."_

"Now that, I would like to hear." A voice said behind her. She turned around to see Princess Celestia smiling down at her.

Rarity smiled back and continued tell her what she learned. "_I learned that no matter where you go in life, you should never forget that you are the product of your home and your friends. And that is something always to be proud of, no matter what." _She finished.

Celestia's smile grew. "A very valuable lesson to have learned."

"It certainly is." A voice said across the room. Rarity and Celestia turned their heads to see Me and the bell-hop pony each once again carrying half the luggage on our backs.

"But, might I ask that we hurry things up a bit?" the bell-hop pony asked.

"Yeah, this is the third time we've done this and to be honest, we're not getting any better." I said trying to keep myself up.

"OH NO." the bell-hop pony yelled as he lost his strength and collapsed to the floor with the luggage falling on top of him.

"OH, HERE WE GO AGAIN." I yelled as I did the same.

Rarity and Celestia then smiled sheepishly at each other.

**That night: Canterlot castle guest room**

After escorting me and Rarity to the train station to catch the train that took us back to Ponyville, Celestia walked down the hallway towards to the guest room to check on Discord.

She entered the room to see Discord adjusting his bed sheets. "I see you're getting settled well." She said with a warm smile.

Discord turned around to face Celestia and smiled back. "Oh yes, a little tweaking here and there and it'll be _home sweet home._"

Celestia then stepped forward. "So is there anything you need before I go to my room?" she asked.

Discord then gave her a nervous look. "Errr, yes, there is actually. You see! I want to be useful to you and pull some weight around here so…are there any jobs that are available?"

Celestia was surprised at his request for a moment before she tapped her chin. "Well…there is one; we need somepony to be our new bell ringer."

Discord smiled. "Ah yes, bell ringer….what's that?" he asked with a confused look.

"It's when somepony rings the castle bells in the morning to for all of Canterlot to hear. We've been needing one for some time now." Celestia explained.

Discord's smile returned. "I'll do it, at least it's something."

Celestia smiled and nodded. "Very well Discord, I'll show you where the bells are tomorrow." She then turned around to walk out the door.

At that moment, Discord stuck out his talon hand. "Celestia wait!"

Celestia then turned around to face Discord with a curious face. "Yes Discord."

Discord had a nervous look on his face. "Errr….are…there any activity's happening this week? Any at all?"

Celestia gave him thought about it for a moment. "Well, there is a bonfire happening in the Canterlot square this Thursday, we do it in memory of the ponies that have died over the years. Why?" she asked curiously.

"Well…errr…would you like, if it's not too much trouble…to go with me?" Discord asked nervously.

Celestia gave him a confused look. "You mean, like a…date?"

Discord's eye went wide. "Oh, you don't have to call it a date if you don't want to! We can call it a simple night out…as friends." Discord then smiled sheepishly.

Celestia then gave him a sweet smile. "I'd sooner call it a date."

Discord then had a surprised look on his face. "Really, then does this mean you'll go with me?"

Celestia nodded. "Of cause Discord, I'll have a seat ready for you on my balcony where we'll be watching the fire. Sound good?"

Discord gave her a sweet smile. "Sounds wonderful."

With that, Celestia turned around and walked out the door before shutting it behind her; leaving Discord alone in a stunned position.

Discord was silent for a moment before he bent down his lion arm. "YES, HAHAHA." He cheered in joy.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry for the long read.**

**You're probably noticed I followed Rarity instead of myself at the party scene. The reason for this is, I couldn't think of anything to do with myself in the party. Remember, I don't own this episode.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	22. Chapter 22: Date with Celestia

**I had to change some of the lyrics in the song I used in this chapter so it would fit the story.**

Chapter 22: Date with Celestia

It's been 2 days since I came back from Canterlot with Rarity and my back still hurts from carrying her luggage. I'm just glad I'm back home at the library with the pony I love.

Discord is doing well at the castle as the new bell ringer; I've even heard that ponies in Canterlot get up early in the morning to listen to the smoothing rhythm of the castle bells.

Discord's informed us that he won't be living in Ponyville anymore but it won't mean the end of the band. He's asked us to send him a letter when the band needs him and he'll come over strait away to be our drummer.

**Ponyville streets**

I was trotting through the streets in a really happy mood with Jeff on my back, I was trotting so much that Jeff was having trouble keeping his balance on my back and he was starting to feel unwell.

"Dude… take it easy…with the trotting!...or else we'll be seeing my breakfast on your back." Jeff said with his wing over his beak.

I then snapped back into reality and turned my head to face Jeff. "Oh, sorry buddy." I then stopped trotting and started walking normally.

Jeff took a few deep breaths before he finally calmed down. "Ok, what's happenin' with you today? You're acting more…joyful than usual." He asked me with his wings crossed.

I gave him a small smile. "Sorry Jeff, I can't help it, I'm in love. I mean, I've never felt this way before. Back home no girl would even think about dating me. Twilight is the first girl to ever have feelings for me."

Jeff then flew off my back and landed in front of my with a raised eye brow. "Look! I know you and Twilight love each other and trust me! I'm happy for you both, but don't you think you're taking this a little too far?"

I gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you just spent the last hour trottin' through the streets like a love-struck idiot." Jeff stated.

I thought about it for a moment and realized he was right. I blushed from embarrassment. "Ooh, guess I should calm it down. Huh?" I asked sheepishly.

"Ya think?" Jeff said before he flew back onto my back. "Now come on! We have to get back to…err…what is it we're doin' again?" he asked as I started walking again.

"I'm going to book me and Twilight our table at that restaurant we like for tonight." I answered.

"Again? What is it like the fifth time this month?" Jeff asked as he flew off my back and hovered in front of my face.

"Hey, what can I say? That place is awesome. We have our own private table that's in a beautiful garden for the romantic mood, we're always welcome there and the food is just _so_ good." I explained with a small smile.

Jeff rolled his eyes before returning on my back. "Whatever dude, you do what want! Just don't ask me to sing for you again."

I smirked. "Deal." I said as I continued to walk further down the streets.

**The restaurant**

I saw the restaurant up ahead and walked towards the door. "Right, all we have to do is go in, book the table for night and then we can go-AW DAMN IT." I yelled in shock.

Jeff went wide-eyed and repeatedly turned his head left and right. "What? What? What is it? Did you step in dog do-do?"

I gave him a discussed look. "What? No. look at the sign on the door!" I said as I pointed at the door.

Jeff then flew up onto my head and squinted his eye as he leaned closer to the door the read the sign. It said. "_Closed for two weeks, will be back soon."_

After he read the note, Jeff jumped down off my head and looked up at me. "So?"

I raised my eye brow while looking down at him. "So?...Jeff, the place is closed. Where am I supposed to take Twilight for our date?" I asked in a worried tone.

"Dude relax, it's not like you two already planned to have the date here." Jeff said with a small smirk.

I went wide-eye and shifted them left and right. Jeff's smirk then faded away and he face-winged himself. "Aww man, you already did, didn't you? Dude, you're supposed to get a place to go…_before_..you ask the girl out."

I raised my eye brow again. "What if she said no?"

"Hello…SHE'S IN LOVE WITH YOU…why would she say no?" Jeff yelled in frustration.

I opened my mouth to say something until I thought about what he said. "Good point." I admitted.

Jeff then rubbed his eyes. "Ok just chillax! I'm sure there's other places you can have your date." He said trying to make things better.

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, like there's anywhere better to go. (Small sigh) let's just go home! Maybe me and Twilight can have a romantic dinner at the library." I said in a disappointed tone before I turned around and walked away with my ears hanging low.

Jeff then shook his head before he flew towards me and landed back on my back.

**Library**

I walked up to the library and stopped at the door; I let out another sigh before I pushed the door open and walked into the library.

Once inside, I shut the door behind me and saw Twilight by the book shelves organizing some books. Jeff then flew off my back and went up the stairs.

She noticed me and smiled warmly. "Oh good, you're home. I have some news." She said in a joyful tone as she walked up to me.

"Twi, can I tell you something first?" I asked with my ears still low.

She then noticed the slightly upset look on my face and gave me a concerned look. "What is it Matt?"

I then took another deep breath before I looked in her eyes. "We can't go to that restaurant we were planning on going to tonight, it's closed." I admitted.

She gave me a shocked look. "You're kidding! For how long?"

"Two weeks, I'm sorry Twi." I said with my head hanging slightly.

Twilight then gave me an honest look. "Matt, you don't have to be sorry! It's not your fault. And I know something else we can do tonight."

I rose my head back up and gave her a curious look. "Really? What?"

"Follow me!" Twilight said before she turned around and walked over to a table with me following behind. Once we reached the table, she pointed at a poster on the table and I looked down at it and started reading it.

"_A bonfire in Canterlot square tonight_?" I said as I read the poster.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, they do it to honour the memory of all the ponies who have died over the years. I've never been to one and I was thinking that we could go. Think about it! The cool night breeze, the warmth of the fire, it could be nice."

I rubbed my chin as I thought about it until I made a decision. "Well…I do like bonfires. And we don't really have anything better to do so…yeah, we can go." I said with a smile.

Twilight then had a large smile on her face. "Ok, then we're gonna need some things to take with us. The fire's going to last a while so we're gonna need some food. What do we have in the kitchen?"

"I'll go check." I said before I walked into the kitchen and opened the fridge only to see nothing. I closed the fridge and walked over the cupboards only to once again see nothing.

I closed the cupboards and went back into the main room. "We don't have any food. The kitchen's completely empty." I told Twilight.

"I'm gonna have to go buy some more." Twilight said before I nodded in agreement.

Twilight tuned my head to the stairs. "Spike, Jeff, Peewee. I'm going shopping, I'll be back soon." Twilight called up to them.

"OK." Spike yelled down to her.

Twilight then grabbed her saddle bags "I'll be back soon Matt." She said before planting a kiss on my cheek.

She then walked to the front door, opened it with her magic and walked out of the library before shutting the door behind her.

A few seconds later, Discord appeared in a flash of light in the middle of the main room.

"Matt, I need your help…fast." He yelled with a worried look on his face.

I was startled by Discord sudden appearance and I held my hoof to my heart. "Discord, what have I said about jumping up like that?"

Discord then lowered his head down to my level. "Matt, this is no time to take things easy. I need help."

Spike, Jeff and Peewee then came down the stairs and noticed Discord in the middle of the room. "Discord? What're you doing here?" Spike aske with a raised eye brow.

I turned my head to face them. "I was about to ask him the same thing."

Discord still had a worried look on his face. "Enough with the talking, I need serious help."

"Huh, we all know that." Jeff said under his breath before Peewee smacked him behind the head with his wing. After which, Jeff gave him a sharp glare.

I then looked back up to Discord. "What's wrong?"

Discord looked down at me. "Well….I…have a date tonight with…Princess Celestia." He answered in a nervous tone. I then went wide-eyed and my jaw dropped in shock, I was completely speechless.

"Princess Celestia? How'd you get her to go on a date with you?" Jeff asked in a surprised voice.

Discord put his hands on his head. "I don't know, I just asked he and she said yes but I don't know if this date's gonna go well." Discord then started pacing back and forth.

"Why do you think it won't go well?" Peewee asked curiously as he flew up to Discord's face.

"Because, she might not like me. I mean, I used to be her worst enemy. How can two worst enemies who just became friends start dating?" Discord said in a worried tone.

I then stepped forward. "Discord, if she didn't like you then why do you think she said yes in the first place?"

Discord was about to say something before he gave it some thought and tapped his chin. "I…I don't know."

Peewee then flew up onto Discord's shoulder. "It's because she likes you. Trust us! You've got nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, ever since you came to our side she's taken a likin' to you. I mean, those royal high class ponies certainly aren't her type." Jeff added.

Spike then stepped closer to Discord. "And those guys are a dime a dozen. But you…your one of a kind." Spike said before he walked to the window and looked up at Canterlot before he started to sing.

**Spike: **"_Look!...Canterlot. The kingdom of_ _lovers is glowing this evening….(sigh)_

_True that's because there's a fire_

_But still, there's l'amour…_

_Somewhere out there in the night_

_Her heart is also…a light_

_And I know the guy she just might be burning fooooor…._

_A guy…like you_

_She's never known, D_

_A guy like you, a girl does not meet every daaaay_

_You've got a look_

_That's all your own, D_

_Could there be two?" _**With Jeff and Peewee: **_"Like you? No way."_

**Spike: **_"Those other guys…that she could dangle_

_All look the same from every boring point of vieeeeew_

_You're a surprise…from every angle_

_Mon Dieu above, she's gotta love, a guy like you."_

**Jeff: **_"A guy like you_

_Gets extra credit_

_Because it true you got a...certain something moooore." _**Spike: **_"you're aces, D." _

**Peewee: **_"You see that face…you don't forget it."_

**All three:**_ "Want something new?" _**Spike: **_"that's you."_** All three: **_"For suuuure."_

**Peewee: **_"We all have gaped…at some Adonis."_

**Jeff: **_"But then we crave a meal more nourishing to cheeeew." _

**Spike: **_"And since you're shaped….in a bazar way."_

**All three: **_"No question of, she's gotta love, a guy like you…."_

**Peewee: **_"Call me a hopeless romantic but Discord, I feel it."_

**Jeff: **_"She wants you so, any moment she'll walk through that doooor."_

**All three:**_ "Fooooor _

_A guy so swell, a guy like you_

_With all you bring to her_

_A fool can tell, it's like she fell for you-know-whoooo_

_You ring the bell, you're the bell ringerrrrr_

_When she wants oo-la-la_

_Then she wants you la-la_

_She will discover, guy_

_You're one heck of a guy_

_Who wouldn't love a guy…like… youuuu?" _

**Spike: **_"You got a lot, the rest have not_

_She's gotta love a guy like you."_

The moment they stopped singing, we heard the front door open and we all looked to the door to see Twilight with her saddle bags all filled up.

She then noticed Discord and Spike, Jeff and Peewee in some sort of pose. "Errr…what's going on here? And why is Discord here?" she asked with a raised eye brow.

Spike, Jeff and Peewee then looked at each other before they quickly got out of the pose. "Nothin'." They all said with sheepish smiles as they held their hands and wings behind their backs.

Twilight was silent for a moment before she turned her head to me. "Matt, what's going on?"

"Errr…well…Discord came here the moment you left and he's kinda stressed out because…apparently….he has a date tonight." I said nervously.

"With who?" Twilight asked as she walked up to me.

"Errr…Princess Celestia." I answered with a sheepish smile.

Twilight's eyes then went wide. "Princess Celestia? As in…the ruler of all of Equestria?" she asked before I slowly nodded.

She then looked up at Discord with a surprised look. "How did you get Princess Celestia to go on a date with you?"

Discord's narrowed his eyes. "I asked her and she said yes. We're going to watch the bonfire together. What am I gonna do?" he asked as he started stressing again.

Twilight raised her hoof. "Relax Discord, all you have to do is be yourself and think of a nice conversation to have with her." She said with a sweet smile.

"A conversation about what?" Discord asked with a raised eye brow.

Twilight then tapped her chin. "Well…anything, your hobbies, your interests, what you did when you were young, that sort of stuff."

I then walked up beside Twilight while still looking up at Discord. "Yeah, just be polite, nice and understanding. Then you'll be fine." I said with a confident smile.

"Unless you screw up and make a fool of yourself." Jeff said with his eyes narrow.

"JEFF." We all yelled out while giving him angered looks.

"What?" he said as he shrugged.

Discord then let out a nervous sigh

**That night: Canterlot square**

After a long train ride, Me and Twilight arrived at Canterlot square next to the castle to see a large pyramid of wood in the centre with a barrier surrounding it so nopony would get hurt from the fire. It looked like every pony in Canterlot was here sitting around behind the barrier.

As we were walking towards it, I noticed Discord wasn't following us and I rolled my eyes before I turned around and walked around the corner of a nearby building and saw Discord with his back against the wall.

"Come on!" I said before I grabbed his tail in my mouth and pulled him around the corner and towards Twilight.

Once I was back by her side, Discord grabbed his tail with his talon hand and pulled it out my mouth while giving me an annoyed look. "I can walk, you know!" he said.

He then walked passed us and Me and Twilight just looked at each other before we followed him.

Discord then looked up to see Princess Celestia looking down at the square from a balcony attached to the castle. Discord then gulped hard and just stood there.

Me and Twilight walked up beside him and I gave him a warm smile. "Hey, it'll be alight. Remember what we told you and you'll be fine."

Discord then looked down at me and smiled warmly back. "Ok Matt…thanks."

I raised my hoof. "Don't mention it! Now go up there and enjoy yourself." I said before I gave him a playful push forward.

He then gulped again before he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light. I then noticed a flash of light up on the balcony that Celestia was on and I looked up to it to see Discord standing next to Celestia.

Once we were sure Discord was settled, Me and Twilight walked up to the barrier and I laid a blanket on the ground before we laid down on top of it and waited for the fire to start.

While we were getting comfy, Luna came around the corner of a building to the square and gasped at the sight of Me and Twilight by the barrier before she shot back around the corner; hoping we didn't see her.

"What's Matthew doing here? I can't go out there. What if he sees me and I make a fool of myself? Oh enough of this Luna! He's with Twilight Sparkle and you shouldn't even feel this way about him." Luna said to herself.

Luna then poked her head back around the corner to see me smiling while lying next to Twilight. Luna then blushed slightly. "Well…no reason I can't say hello." She said to herself with a small smile.

Luna then looked at her reflection in the window of the building and stroked her rippling sparkly mane with her hoof until she was satisfied with her appearance. Once she was, she came back around the corner and walked towards us.

We didn't notice her beside until she mad a fake cough sound, we then turned our heads to her and we both smiled at the sight of her. "Princess Luna, are you here to see the fire too?" Twilight asked.

"Oh….yes, I've come to see the fire…it's just finding a spot to sit that's the trouble. Hahaha." Luna laughed nervously.

"Well you can sit with us, can't she Twi?" I suggested as I turned my head to Twilight. She then nodded. "Sure, we have room on the blanket." She said with a smile.

Luna then smiled warmly. "You….don't mind?"

I shook my head. "Cause not, get yourself comfy!" I said before as we both scooted up along the blanket to make room for Luna to lye down on it.

Luna gave us a sweet smile as she laid down next to me. We then look forward at the pile of wood and continued to wait. Luna then looked at me from the corner of her eye and moved slightly closer to me but me and Twilight didn't notice.

A few minutes later, I saw a royal guard climb over the barrier with a lit touch in his mouth, he walked over to the pile of, threw the touch onto it and it quickly burst into flames before the royal guard walked back over to the barrier.

We all watched in awe at the sight of the grand fire that burned in front of us. Twilight then rested her head on my shoulder, I looked at her and smiled warmly before I wrapped my wing around her to pull her closer to me and keep her worm.

Unknown to me, Luna saw this and her ears lowered in sadness before she looked down at the ground. Me and Twilight then heard a small whimper and looked at Luna and noticed the sad look on her face.

"Princess, are you ok?" Twilight asked in a concerned voice. "Yeah, you look a little down." I added.

Luna then raised her head back up to face us with her ears still low. "Oh….it's nothing….really." she said with a small forced smile before she looked back at the fire.

Me and Twilight then looked at each other before we also looked back at the fire.

Meanwhile up on the balcony, Discord was trying to avoid eye contact with Celestia until he could think of something to say. He then thought of something and slowly turned his head to Celestia. "Errr…Celestia." He said nervously.

"Hmm." Celestia hummed as she turned her head to face Discord with a smile on her face.

He fiddled with his fingers as he became more nervous. "Errr…tell me…Celestia! Do you like…practical jokes?" he asked before he smiled sheepishly.

"Practical jokes? Is that all I could come up with? She isn't interested in those type of things." Discord thought.

Celestia then tapped her chin as she thought about it. "Hmm. Well, I do like to pull some. In fact, I have a vile of disappearing ink in my room. I accidently used it to wright a letter once." She said with a smile before she let out a small laugh.

Discord then became less nervous and gave her a small smile. "Really?" he chuckled slightly.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, I really felt sheepish after that." She and Discord found this humorous and they both laughed.

Once they both calmed down, they looked back down at the fire and there was a moment silence between them until Discord broke it. "Well…this is a nice place to have a date."

Celestia kept her sight on the fire. "I guess, I haven't really been on a date for a while."

Discord turned his attention to her with a raised eye brow. "Really, when was your last one?" he asked curiously.

Celestia turned her head to face him before looking down at the ground. "Oh….it was centuries ago."

Discord then gave her a surprised look. "Centuries? But how could you have _not_ had a date for that long? You're a beautiful and charming mare that any stallion would be lucky to date."

Celestia then gave him a surprised look before Discord's eyes widened once he realized what he just said. "I mean, in a perfectible type of way. Don't get me wrong! You are beautiful and charming, no doubt about it….I mean…errr." Discord then started to sweat as he blushed from embarrassment.

Celestia couldn't help but giggle as she tried to hide her blushing face. "Well, believe it or not! It's true. And the last stallion I liked didn't really go well." She then frowned slightly as she looked down at the floor.

Discord noticed her frown and gave her a concerned look. "Why? What happened?" he asked.

Celestia didn't take her eyes off the floor. "I…I don't know if I should talk about it."

Discord the placed his lion hand under her chin and gently raised her head so he could look in her eyes. Once he did, he gave her a sweet smile. "Trust me! It's better if you get things off your chest. If you get upset about it! I'll be here to comfort you."

Once she heard that, she gave him a warm smile before she took a deep breath and began to talk about her past. "_It was a long, long time ago, even back before me and Luna were princesses. We were teenagers in an academy taught by Star Swirl the Bearded and I was second best in the class while Luna was third best. And the first best in the class…was the alicorn that I had a large crush on…his name was Grimerd. He was handsome, strong and was almost more powerful than Star Swell. But one day, we discovered why he was so good at magic. It turned out, he was using forbidden magic to make himself stronger and he was expelled from the academy, he then blamed us for it. 3 months later, Grimerd attacked the academy with his heart filled with anger and hatred. He battled against Star Swirl and almost killed him, but the royal guard overpowered Grimerd and took him to the princess who ruled back then. The princess banished Grimerd from Canterlot and was never to return."_

When Celestia stopped there, Discord gave her a concerned look. "That must have been very hard for you." he said quietly.

Celestia then frowned. "If only that was all that happened to him."

Discord raised an eye brow. "Why? What else happened to him?"

Celestia then continued her story. "_Many years after Grimerd was banished, after me and Luna were crowned the new princesses, Grimerd returned to Canterlot with more powers than ever. It turned out, he stole back his book on forbidden magic before he was banished and spent his years of banishment learning new and more deadly spells. Me and Luna knew that if we fought him in Canterlot, many ponies would get hurt or killed. So we teleported ourselves and Grimerd to the mountains far, far away from Canterlot, the land was dark and filled with lava pits. It was a long and deadly battle, but me and Luna combined our magic and used them to defeat Grimerd. After we use every ounce of magic we had on him, he eventually lost his strength and fell down into one of the lava pits below us; he was incinerated beneath the waves of lava." _Celestia then finish.

Discord had a surprised look on his face. "I've always regretted that day, Discord. I've never talked about it since." Celestia said quietly with her head hanging, a tear then ran down her cheek.

Discord noticed this and placed his talon hand on Celestia's shoulder. "Hey…its ok…that was a long time ago…you can't blame yourself for what happened to him!" he said sweetly.

Celestia then wiped the tear from her cheek. "I..I know, but I'm not sure if I did the right thing. I mean, there may have been a way to bring him back to the light. I sometimes feel like some of my subjects feel badly of me for not trying hard enough." She said still looking at the ground.

"Celestia, listen!...I don't think any less of you for what happened. And from what you just told me, it sounded like there was no way to bring him back to the light. If you want my opinion? I think you and Luna saved all of Equestria from a terrible fate…and I will never ever think badly of you for anything." Discord said trying to make her feel better.

Celestia then raised her head up to look into Discord's eyes and smiled weakly before she wrapped her hooves around the back of his neck and pulled him into a warm hug. "Thank you, Discord." She whispered as she nuzzled her head in his neck.

Discord looked down at Celestia and smiled warmly before hugging back. "Anytime, Celestia." He said sweetly.

An hour and a half later, the fire died down and everypony was starting to get up and leave the square to go home. I looked at Twilight to see she had fallen asleep on my shoulder; I smiled sweetly at her before I stated nudging her with my hoof. "Twilight!...Twi!...wake up!" I said quietly as I did.

She then opened her eyes slightly and leaned up off my shoulder before she let out a large yawn. She then looked at me with her eyes half shut. "Matt?...is the bonfire over?" she asked quietly.

I nodded. "Yeah, we should get home and get some sleep!" I whispered to her.

She then rubbed one of her eyes with her hoof. "Yeah, you're right, we should go and…(yawn)…get some…sleep." she said as she started to doze off again.

I smiled sweetly at her. "Do you want me to carry you?" I asked quietly, she nodded.

She then climbed onto my back and wrapped the arms around my neck before she rested her head on the back of my neck and closed her eyes.

I then got up with Twilight on my back and Luna smiled warmly at me. "She's very lucky to have a coltfriend like you, Matthew." She whispered.

I smiled back. "And I'm lucky to have a girlfriend like her." I whispered. Hearing this made Luna's ears lower slightly but she tried to keep her small smile up.

"Well, goodnight Luna. It's been nice seeing you again, you should visit sometime!" I said as I walked passed her.

Once I was passed her, Luna quickly got up off the blanket and tried to think of a way to call me back to her. She then came up with something. "Errr….Matthew." she called.

I turned my head around to face her with a curious look on my face. "Errr…listen! The train station might be closed at this time so….would you like me to get you and Twilight Sparkle home? You know! As a friendly offer." Luna asked with a nervous smile.

I then smiled back. "Would you? That would be helpful."

Luna then shot up beside me. "EXCELENT….I mean, very well." Luna said with a sheepish smile before her horn started to glow dark blue and all three of us disappeared in a flash of light.

**Ponyville library**

In a flash of light, we reappeared in the main room of the library. I turned my head to look at Twilight on my back to see she was still asleep and I smiled at her again.

I then looked at Luna. "Thanks Luna, you're a life saver." I said with a warm smile.

Luna smiled before she blushed slightly and kicked the floor with one of her front hooves. I didn't notice her blushing face as I walked towards the stairs.

"Goodnight Luna." I said as I started to walk up the stairs with Twilight still on my back. Luna smiled warmly as she watched me go up. "Goodnight Matthew."

Luna's horn then glowed again and she disappeared in a flash of light.

Once I reached the top of the stairs, I walked over to Twilight's side of the bed and aligned myself with it.

I gently leaned my body to the bed before Twilight slowly rolled off my back and onto the bed. Once she was on, I pulled the covers over her and walked around to my side of the bed.

I climbed into the bed before I pulled the covers over. I then nudged closer to Twilight and planted a small kiss on her cheek. "Goodnight Twi, I love you." I whispered trying not to wake her up.

I then rested my head on the pillow and placed my arm on Twilight's hip before I let myself drift off into a peaceful sleep.

******Meanwhile: Outside Celestia's bedroom**

Discord and Celestia walked down the hallway towards Celestia's bedroom. Once they reached the door, Celestia turned her head to face Discord. "Thank you for that lovely evening, Discord."

Discord the raised his talon hand. "Please!...the honour is all mine. If you'd like to do it again sometime? I'm free for….well…just about every day, really."

Celestia giggled. "I'd love to do this again, say….next Tuesday?"

Discord gave her a warm smile. "I'd like that. Well…goodnight Celestia." He said before he walked back up the hallway.

As he was walking, he was caught by surprise by Celestia pulling him back by the shoulder and planting a small kiss on his cheek. "Goodnight Discord" she said sweetly before she removed her hoof from his shoulder and walked into her room. She then closed the door behind her; leaving Discord stunned in the hallway.

He stood there with a surprised look before a large smile slowly grew on his face. He then placed his talon hand on the cheek she kissed and started walking towards his room with a dazed look on his face. "Best…night…ever." He thought in a joyful tone.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Note: If anyone's interested in my story being read on YouTube, please email TrueSoul116 and tell him about my story and where to find it, his email address is TS116FR(At sign)yahoo .com (space not necessary) and you can send him a message from your Hotmail or Yahoo account. Please ask other readers to do the same to get a higher number of requests. The higher the number, the more chance he'll read it and put it on YouTube. **

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**The song used in the chapter is called **_**a guy like you **_**from the Disney movie **_**The hunchback of Notre dome. **_

**I would like to thank Mike101 for being the first to recommend my story to be read on YouTube.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon and I hope you're looking forward to it because Thorn is coming back for revenge.**


	23. Chapter 23: Thorn strikes back part 1

Chapter 23: Thorn strikes back (part 1)

**Luna's castle**

Two days after the bonfire party. It was a cool night, Luna's full moon was high up in the black starry sky and her royal guards were patrolling around outside the castle. Two guards were standing outside the large double gate in front of the castle grounds with sharp looks in their eyes.

Suddenly, they noticed a large cloaked hooded pony figure walking towards them with his head facing the ground. When the hooded figure reached them, one of the guards stood on front of him. "You're not allowed in the castle grounds, sire. Please turn around and go back." The guard said in a calm tone.

The hooded figure didn't say anything before walked around the guard and continued to walk towards the gate. Both guards then leaped in front of him and stuck their wings out to block the hooded figures path. "Hey, didn't you hear me? You're not allowed inside." The guard said aggressively.

The hooded figure continued to be silent as he slowly raised his head up revealing a pair of glowing blood red eyes.

Once they saw those eyes, the two guards had a slight look of fear grow on their faces before the hooded figures horn glowed white. A white glow then appeared around the two guards and they slowly lifted off the ground until they were both hovering in mid-air.

Before they knew it, they were both pushed back with great force through the gate; breaking it wide open. After they crashed to the ground and became unconscious, the hooded figure walked through the gate way and headed towards the front double doors of the castle.

However, the sound of the crash caught the attention of the other guards patrolling above the walls of the castle; including the captain of the guards. He looked down at the hooded. "INTRUDER, get the crossbows ready!" the captain yelled.

As the hooded figure continued to walk further up the castle grounds, he stopped between two large stone towers. On top of each tower was a giant metal crossbow pointing down at the hooded figure with a guard standing next to it; waiting to pull a lever to fire it.

"I warn you only once, turn back now! Or we'll be forced to fire." The captain yelled down to the hooded figure, the figure remained silent. The captain glared down at him. "Very well, FIRE THE CROSSBOWS!"

With that, the guard on each tower pull back on the lever and the two crossbows each fired a giant metal arrow down at the hooded figure. Just as the arrows were about to hit him, his horn glowed white and the arrows stopped and hovered in mid-air.

The guards eyes widened in shock at the sight of this. At that moment, the arrows then slowly rotated around until they each faced the towers they came from. The arrows then shot back up to the crossbows and crash into the top of each tower; destroying them and the crossbows.

The hooded figure then continued to walk towards the front doors of the castle. While on the walls of the castle, one of the guards walked up beside the captain. "Sire, he's still coming."

The captain turned his head to face the guard. "He won't get far, ready the archers!" he commanded. The guard nodded before he turned around and galloped away to do as he was told.

As the hooded figure got closer to the front door, a large number of guards with crossbows in their hooves all appeared from on top of a wall above the front doors. The archer guard each pointed their crossbows down at the hooded figure and prepared to fire.

The captain of the guards then came up beside the long row of archer guards and glared down at the hooded figure. "FIRE!" he yelled before the archer guards fired their crossbows at the hooded figure.

As the large number of small arrows shot down toward the hooded figure, his horn glowed again and the arrows stopped in mid-air. The arrows slowly rotated around until they were facing up at the archer guards.

The captain's eyes shot wide open once he realized what was about to happen. "GET DOWN!" he yelled before he ducked down. The arrows the shot back up to the archer guards and while a few of them were lucky enough to dodge them, a few guards got badly hit.

Once the arrows were all gone, the captain stood back up and looked in horror at some of his injured guards. One of the guards that didn't get hit then walked up to the captain. "Sire, what do we do now?" he asked.

The captain placed his hoof on the guards shoulder. "Go to the lobby and cut this guy off with the other guards! I'll warn the princess." He said with a serious look. The guard then nodded in agreement before he and the captain galloped inside the castle.

Once the hooded figure finally reached the front doors, he used his magic to push them open to see a large number of guards standing all around the lobby with sharp glares in their eyes.

"Keep him away from the throne room! Don't let him near the Princess!" the captain yelled from the top of the large stairs before he galloped into the throne room and slammed the door behind him.

As the guards slowly hovered towards the hooded figure with spears in their hooves, the hooded figure chuckled darkly before he spread out his black feathered wings with his horn glowing white. The guards then charged at the figure with their spears.

Meanwhile in the throne room, Luna was sitting on her throne when she saw the captain galloping towards her. Luna then got off her throne and approached the captain. Once they were close enough to each other, the captain bowed. "Captain Midnight, what's happening out there?" Luna asked with a serious look on her face.

Captain Midnight got up from his bow and gave Luna a concerned look. "Your highness, there's an intruder in the lobby. We have to evacuate the castle, now."

Luna looked down at the floor and tapped her chin with her hoof before she looked back up at the captain. "Understood, get the guards ready to move out before-" Luna was then cut off by the sound of her guards screaming in terror and pain behind the throne room doors.

Luna and Captain Midnight continued to listen to the horrible screaming; only imagining what kind of horror could be happening in the lobby. Suddenly, the screaming stopped and everything was silent.

"Get behind me, Princess!" Captain Midnight ordered before Luna took a few steps back behind him.

There was a moment silence until the throne room doors swung open and the hooded figure walked into throne room before the doors slammed shut behind him. Once the hooded figure was close enough in, he threw his head back and his hood came off; revealing himself to be Thorn with a devilish smile on his face.

"Thorn!" Luna growled with a glare in her eyes.

Thorn began to approach Luna and Captain Midnight. "Princess Luna!...so nice to see you again, it's been too long." He said with an evil grin before his horn glowed white and his hooded cloak burst into black flames and disappeared from his body.

"Not long enough, Thorn." Luna stated while continuing to glare at him.

"Yes, I could tell by the warm welcome that you gave me on my way in. by the way…you need new guards." Thorn said before he chuckled darkly.

Luna growled. "You sick, twisted-minded monster." She said with an angered look.

"Now, is that anyway for a girl your age to talk? I thought the Princess Sisters were all about kindness and giving help to those who need it." Thorn said as he got closer to Luna.

"We only give it to those who _deserve_ it." Luna stated proudly.

Thorn's smile then turned into an angered growl. "Then I'll just have to _take _what I deserve." With that, his horn glowed violently white and Luna took a few steps back with a look of shock on her face.

At that moment, Captain Midnight stepped in front of Luna. "You will not lay a hoof on her." He said while glaring up at Thorn.

"You've got some guts…let's see what they look like!" Thorn said darkly with an evil smile. Captain Midnight then leaped forward at him but Thorn's horn then glowed white and Midnight stopped in mid-air.

Thorn grinned before he shot his head left and Midnight was thrown into the left wall with a large crash. With Midnight still in his magic lock, Thorn shot his head right and Midnight was pulled off the wall and thrown into the right wall with a larger crash.

Thorn then tilted his head up and Midnight shot up into the ceiling; causing the ceiling to crack. Thorn gave one last grin before his horn stopped glowing and the white glow around Midnight disappeared before he fell to the floor with a hard thud.

While Midnight was lying on the floor badly injured, Thorn looked up at the cracked ceiling before he shot a large bolt of black lightning at the centre of the cracks and they grew bigger as the ceiling started to crumble. As Midnight tried to stand back up, a large amount of rubble fell down from the ceiling and crashed on top of Midnight.

The second it did, Midnight's helmet slid across the floor and stopped in front of Thorn's front hooves. Thorn looked down at the helmet and chuckled evilly as he crushed it with his hoof before he walked around the pile of rubble.

Luna had a shocked and frightened look as Thorn slowly approached her. "This has been a most disappointing night, Luna. I was expecting more of a challenge…but all you had to throw at me was your pathetic excuse for royal guards that I easily crushed like insects. And once I'm through with you…I'll do the same to Matthew for what he did to me." Thorn said with hatred burning in his eyes.

Luna growled as anger burned in her eyes. "I won't let you hurt him." She said before pointed her horn at Thorn and shot a beam of dark blue magic at him. The beam hit his armoured chest and he stumbled back a few steps.

"Hahaha, so you do have some fight in you. Good, maybe tonight will be interesting after all." Thorn said as he slowly walked towards Luna.

Luna had a shocked look on her face. "How…how are you so strong? Most ponies are usually knocked out cold by my powers."

Thorn laughed. "Hahaha, your castle is too dark, Princess. Darkness fuels my powers and strength. Right now…I'm the most powerful pony here." he said as he continued to walk towards her.

As Luna backed away from him, she shot another dark blue beam of magic at him but he dodged it and shot a bolt of black lightning at Luna.

Luna tried to stop the blot by shooting another beam of magic at it but the bolt was too strong and pushed through her beam before it hit Luna; sending her crashing into her throne and knocking her unconscious.

Thorn then walked up to Luna's unconscious body and smiled evilly to see that he gave her a black eye. "You may be week Luna, but you're powers over the night are strong. Which is exactly why I want them." he said darkly as he slightly stroked Luna's main.

Thorn's horn then glowed white and Luna was lifted off the throne and placed on his back. Meanwhile, Midnight was trying to crawl out from under the pile rubble.

When Midnight was half way out, he looked at the throne to see Thorn facing the other way with Luna unconscious on his back. "Soon, your powers will be mine…and I'll make sure your precious sister watches when I drain your powers from you." Thorn said darkly before he disappeared with Luna in a bolt of black flames.

Midnight couldn't keep his head up anymore and let it hit the ground as he became unconscious.

**That morning: Ponyville library**

I groaned as I began to wake up and slowly opened my eyes to see I was facing off the bed, I then rolled over in the bed to face the other way to see Twilight facing me with her eyes closed. I guessed she was still asleep.

I smiled warmly at her before I carefully got out of the bed; trying not to wake her. Once I was out of bed, I groaned as I stretched my arms up in the air until I felt more loose. I then walked over to the window and pulled open the curtains.

To my surprise, it was still dark out and the moon was still high up in the sky. I then got confused and looked at the clock to see it was nearly one 'o'clock in the afternoon, which made me even more confused.

At that moment, I heard a small groaning noise behind me and I turned around to see Twilight lean up on the bed before she let out a large yawn. I then walked up to her and she smiled once she saw me. "Good morning." She said weakly as she rubbed one of her eyes with her hoof.

"Morin' Twi." I said sweetly before I planted a small kiss on her lips. Once Twilight was fully awake, she looked around the room to see that nopony else was up. "Is everypony still asleep?" she asked with a smile.

I nodded. "Yeah. By the way, is it usually dark at this time of day?" I asked.

Twilight raised her eye brow at me. "Huh? What do you mean?" she asked curiously.

I pointed to the window. "Well look! It's nearly the afternoon and its pitch black out there." I said before Twilight got out of the bed and walked towards the window. Once she reached it, she looked out and saw the night sky and the full moon above her.

"That's not right; the sun should have been up ages ago." Twilight stated with a confused look on her face.

I then walked up beside her. "Isn't Luna the one who lowers the moon at this time so Celestia can raise the sun?" I asked.

Twilight nodded while continuing to look out the window. "Yeah, this doesn't make any scenes. Luna's never been late lowering the moon before."

"Maybe she's being distracted. You know! With other royal things." I said trying to think of a reason why Luna would be late.

Twilight turned her head to face me. "I don't think so, raising and lowering the moon is Luna's top duty as Princess of the night. Celestia wouldn't allow her to be distracted from that."

As we continued to wonder why Luna was so late to lower the moon, we both suddenly heard a loud knocking on the front door of the library down the stairs. We then went down the stairs and walked up to the front door before we opened it; revealing the rest of the main 6 behind it.

"Guys? What are you all doing here?" I asked curiously.

"Twilight, Matthew, have you both by any chance noticed something rather…strange…about today?" Rarity asked.

"Like the fact that it's still night time?" Rainbow Dash added as she hovered above Rarity.

Twilight stepped forward. "Yeah, we have noticed it. We think that Luna may have forgot or something."

"Wait! Wait! Wait! I thought we were coming over here for a slumber party." Pinkie Pie said with a raised eye brow.

Applejack turned her head to face her. "No sugar cube, we're here about the extra night time thing."

"So I brought these pillows for nothing?" Pinkie Pie yelled as she pulled a bunch of multi coloured pillows out of nowhere and hit Fluttershy in the face with one; causing a small cloud of feathers and a dazed look on Fluttershy's face.

We all stared at Pinkie Pie with awkward looks for a second before we went back to the main subject. "Anyway, we don't know why this is happening." I said.

"What if something's wrong? What if something happened to Luna?" Rarity said with a concerned look.

"Oh, I hope she's alright." Fluttershy said in a worried tone.

"Maybe we should ask Princess Celestia? She might know somethin' about this." Applejack said before we all nodded in agreement.

"I think she already knows." A voice said from behind me. Me and Twilight turned our heads around to see Spike with a scroll in his hand.

"What's that letter say?" Twilight asked before Spike unravelled the scroll and started to read it.

"_Dear Twilight and Matthew._

_I'm sure you've already noticed that the sky is still dark and the moon is still high in the sky, I do not know why this is happening. I've tried to wright to Luna but she won't wright back. I am starting to worry, that's why I want you two and your friends to go to Luna's castle and investigate. Proceed with caution! There may be something wrong there._

_P.S. Remember Matthew! If something happens, summon your Element to defend yourself and your friends."_ Spike then finished reading.

Once he finished, I turned my head to face Twilight. "Luna's castle? Does anypony even know where that is?" I asked with a raised eye brow.

"I've never been there, but Celestia once told where it was. She said it was in dark lands on the other side of the mountains." Twilight told me.

Applejack stepped forward. "Well, how the hay are we supposed to get there?" she asked.

Twilight shrugged. I then rubbed my chin with my hoof as I tried to think of a way to get there. "Well, Twilight probably can't teleport us that fart. We can't take the train, they probably won't run while it dark."

I then thought of something. "Wait a minute! Don't we have a hot-air balloon?" I asked as I looked at Twilight. She nodded. "Yeah, it's in the fields outside Ponyville."

"Alright, here's the plan. We're gonna use the hot-air balloon to get to Luna's castle and find out why she's not lowering the moon." I said in a confident tone.

Rainbow Dash then flew up in front of me. "Whow wait! So you're tell me that we're gonna take the hot-air balloon to a place we've never even been to before, where who-knows-what could be waiting for us there? That's your plan?" she asked with a raised eye brow.

"….Yep." I answered while nodding my head slightly.

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment before a she smirked. "Then what are we doing standing around here? Let's do this!" she said before she turned around and shot off in the air towards the felids.

I then looked down at Spike. "Spike, you stay here and watch the library! If Jeff and Peewee wake up before we get back, tell them where we've gone. Ok?"

He smiled and stuck his thumb up. "Will do."

I then turned my attention back to Twilight and the others. "Alright, let's go!" I said before we all galloped into to streets and headed towards the felids. Spike then walked back into the library and shut the door behind him.

**Moments later: Felids outside Ponyville**

After a while of galloping through the streets, we finally reached the open fields. I looked ahead to see Rainbow Dash standing next to the already inflated hot-air balloon which was held to the ground by a short rope.

Once we reached the balloon, I tuned my head to face everypony. "Everypony ready?" I asked before Twilight and the others nodded.

"Then let's go!" I said in a confident voice before I jumped into the balloon basket with everypony jumping in after me. Once we were all settled in the basket, Applejack went up to the edge of the basket before she untied the rope holding the balloon down and the balloon lifted off the ground. As we started to go, I had a confident smile on my face.

After a while, my smile faded away once I realized how slow we were going. I look down from the basket to see we were still close to the ground and I narrowed my eyes. "Well….this is embarrassing." I said out loud.

Everypony noticed the situation and looked at each other awkwardly. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I'm on it." She said before she grabbed a rope that was in the basket with us and tied one end of the rope to the edge of the basket and the other end around her waist.

She then flew out of the basket and hovered in front of the balloon. I stuck my hoof out. "Ok Rainbow, just don't go too fa-WHOW." I yelled as Rainbow Dash shot off with great speed; pulling the balloon through the air with all of us inside it.

**Later that evening: Luna's castle**

After a long flight, Rainbow Dash was still pulling the balloon along through the sky as we got closer to the castle. Once we reached it, Rainbow Dash dove down to the front gate; pulling the balloon down with her before she landed in front of the gate with the balloon landing behind her.

Rainbow Dash turned her head around to face us. "How you guy's doing back there?" she asked. We all pulled ourselves up from inside the basket with faces that looked like we were going to be sick. "We have to…go back…I think I…dropped a lung back there." I said between breaths. Rainbow Dash then gave us a sheepish smile.

Once we all calmed down and felt better, we got out of the basket and walked up to the gate. Our mouths hung open at the sight of the wide open gate. "Looks like something broke right through it, the entire thing's wrecked." Twilight said as she looked at one of the bent gate doors.

"Or somepony really wanted to get in." I said with a suspicious look. After a moment, we all walked into the castle grounds and headed towards the front double doors of the castle.

As we did, we all looked at the destruction around the castle grounds. We noticed the two destroyed guard towers and looked up at both of them; wondering what could do something like this. "This is getting scary." Fluttershy said quietly in a frightened voice.

Rarity gave her a concerned look. "It's alright dear, we'll be alright." She said sweetly trying to calm her down.

We then reached the front doors but they were shut. I walked up to them before I opened them slightly and looked through the small gap. I then gasped in horror at the sight of the large number of Luna's dead guards lying all around the lobby.

I quickly shut the doors before I tuned my head to face Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, cover your eyes!" I said.

Fluttershy gave me a concerned look. "Why? What's in there?" she asked silently.

"Just do it and don't open them 'till I tell you to, ok?" I said with a serious voice. Fluttershy then covered her eyes with one of her wings.

Twilight gave me a curious look. "Matt, what's behind the door?" she asked. I remained silent as I turned my head back to the door before I took a deep breath and pushed the doors wide open.

Everypony excepted for Fluttershy screamed in horror once they saw the lobby filled with dead guards. Fluttershy tried to move her wing away from her eyes but Rarity placed her hoof on it to keep it over her eyes.

We then slowly walked inside and head towards the stairs while looking around at the carnage that surrounded us. Rarity was helping Fluttershy along because she couldn't see with her wing over her eyes.

As we walked closer to the stairs, I looked around at all the dead guards. It was horrible, there were bodies on the floor and up along the stairs. There were even small puddles of blood under some of the bodies. I almost didn't want to know what happened here.

Once we reached the stairs, we walked up them and avoided touching the bodies as we did. When we finally reached the top, I pushed open the throne room doors revealing the big empty throne room with a large pile of rubble in the middle of it.

"She's not here." Rainbow Dash said out loud. We then walked into the throne room before I shut the doors behind me. I then turned my head to Fluttershy. "Ok Fluttershy, you can look now!"

Fluttershy then removed her wing from her eyes. "Thanks Matt, what was it that you didn't want me to see?" she asked in a calm voice.

"Errr…best not to know just yet." I answered. Fluttershy nodded to tell me she understood.

I then noticed the pile of rubble and walked up to it. Twilight and the others walked up beside me. "What could have done this?" I asked myself."

"Maybe it was a dragon, aren't they able to do something like this?" Pinkie Pie asked.

I turned my head to face her and shook my head. "I don't think this was a dragon's work, there's only a broken gate, wrecked towers, dead guards and this one pile of rubble. A dragon would have just destroyed the whole castle. No, what ever did this had an intention." I answered.

"The question is, what was that intention?" Twilight said.

I didn't respond before I started to walk around the pile of rubble to see Luna's largely cracked throne. I gave it a suspicious look before I began to walk towards it.

As I walked past the rubble, I suddenly felt something grab hold of my hind-legs. I turned my head around and yelled in fright at the sight of one of the guards under the pile of rubble with his front hooves wrapped around my leg. "WHOW, GET OFF!" I yelled as I pulled my leg out of his grasp. "Help…me!" he said weakly.

I quickly nodded before I looked over the pile of rubble to see Twilight. "Twilight, there's somepony still alive over here. Help me get him out!" I yelled over to her.

Twilight and the rest of the main 6 then galloped around to me and saw the weak guard under the rubble. Twilight lowered herself down to him. "Hold still, I'll get you out." She said in a confident voice.

Twilight then stood back up before her horn glowed and all the pieces of rubble lifted of the guard and flew across the room before they crashed to the floor.

The guard then rolled over onto his back before I sat down next to him and leaned him up in my arms. "Ok….y-you'll be alright, mate. We'll get you to a hospital." I said as I examined his body to see what kind of damage there was.

He shook his head. "N..no…you have t-to find P-Princess Luna…he…he's insane." The guard said weakly.

"Who? What happened here?" Twilight asked while standing beside him.

"I…I'm Midnight Gaze…c-captain of the Princess's royal guards…w-we were attacked…by a-an alicorn….he killed everypony w-who stood up against him. I…I tried to stop him…but…he was too strong…too powerful….I failed…now, she's gone…taken…the Princess…y-you have to save her." Midnight said weakly before he grunted in pain.

"Who took her?" I asked. "He…he said that he was going to drain her powers over the night a-and the moon…with…he sister watching…" Midnight said.

"WHO?" I asked louder. Midnight then placed his hoof on my shoulder and pulled me down to him. He put his mouth to my ear. "Th…Th…Thorn." He answered weakly. My eyes then widened in shock before I pulled my head away from his.

Midnight then quietly gasped a few times before his eyes slowly closed and his hood fell off my shoulder as he died in my arms.

Twilight held her hoof to her mouth with an upset look on her face. I then slowly laid Midnight's body back on the floor and hung my head to take a moment to calm down.

I took a deep breath before I stood back up. "What did he say, sugar cube?" Applejack asked quietly. I raised my head back up and turned to face her.

"He…he said that…it was Thorn, and he took Luna." I answered.

Rainbow Dash then stepped forward. "Wait a minute! Thorn?...you mean, that big black alicorn who hypnotized all of Ponyville and tried to take over Canterlot?...THAT THORN?" She yelled with a shocked look on her face.

I slowly nodded. "Yeah, he's taken Luna to drain her powers and make them his own. That's why he's done this."

"Well, what do we do?" Pinkie Pie asked with a concerned look. "What _can_ we do? We don't even know where he's taken her." Rarity added.

Twilight looked at me. "Did Midnight mention where Thorn might be?"

I thought about it for a second before I remembered something. "He said he was going to drain Luna's powers with her sister watching…but…Celestia is Luna's sister…so that means he's going to…"

My eyes then widened once I realized where Thorn was going. "Oh no….Celestia. He's going to Canterlot."

Twilight and the others eyes widened in shock.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot castle**

Celestia was in the throne room with Discord, she was pacing left and right with a worried look on her face.

Discord saw this and stepped forward. "Don't worry, Celestia! Luna will be alright. She's a powerful pony." He said trying to calm Celestia down.

Celestia stopped pacing and turned her head to face Discord. "I know Discord, but something like this has never happened before. What if something happened to her?" she said getting more worried.

Discord then walked up to her and placed his talon hand on her shoulder. "If something's wrong, Matthew, Twilight and their friends will tell us and we'll all handle it. Trust me! Luna _will_ be back." He said in a confident tone.

Celestia gave him a small smile. Suddenly, a sound caught both their attention. "Hey, you can't be here. This is a restrict-AHHH." Somepony yelled from outside the throne room doors. Suddenly, two of Celestia's guard burst through the doors and crashed to the floor; knocking them unconscious.

Celestia and Discord then looked towards the door way and were shocked to see Thorn walk in. "Thorn?" they both said in slight shock.

"Princess Celestia, we meet again. You know! We didn't get a proper meeting last time. What with you running back to this castle like the coward you are." Thorn said with a glare as he slowly walked towards them.

Discord stepped forward. "Well, you didn't really give her a perfect reason to stay after you BLASTED ME." he yelled in anger.

Thorn looked at Discord. "Discord…I'm surprised you're still alive. I'd thought my lighting would have been strong enough to finally finish what I intended to during that fire in the main hall of Ponyville and end your pathetic life." He said darkly.

Discord smirked. "Guess I'm not as weak as you thought I was."

"That…or I didn't give you a strong enough dose. Allow me to try it again!" Thorn yelled before he quickly pointed his horn at Discord and shot a bolt of black lightning at him.

Lightning then formed in Discord's palms before he stuck his hands out and shot a bolt of yellow lightning out of each of his hands. Thorn and Discord's bolts then connected and fought each other.

Thorn and Discord had their teeth gritted as they tried to force the bolts to shoot out stronger. Thorn's bolt then slowly pushed Discord's bolt back until it finally reached Discord's hands.

Discord couldn't keep his bolts up any longer and Thorn's bolt shot into him; sending him flying across the room and crashing into the wall. Celestia's eyes widened in shock before she galloped up to Discord's side. "Discord, are you ok?"

Discord slowly opened his eyes and groaned. "C-Celestia…go…save yourself…don't worry about me!" he said weakly.

"I'm not leaving you." Celestia said with a serious look.

Thorn heard this and raised his eye brow before he laughed. "Hahaha, you can't be serious. You actually have feeling for that creature? He's nothing but a fool who's lived a pointless life."

Celestia stepped in front of Discord and glared at Thorn. "He's not a fool; he's a true and loyal friend to me and my subject. And I will defend him." Celestia then flew up into the air before she shot a yellow beam of magic down at Thorn.

Thorn then jumped out the way of the beam and it hit the floor. "I wouldn't do that Princess! That is, if you want your sister to remain healthy?" he said with a devious grin.

Celestia's glare then faded and she lowered down to the floor. Once she touched the floor, she gave him an angered look. "What have you done with her?" Celestia yelled.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" Thorn said before his horn glowed white and with a large flash of light, Luna appeared lying down in a cage with black spikey bars.

"LUNA." Celestia yelled in shock. Luna opened her eyes and tried to stand up but then fell back to the floor. Thorn noticed that Celestia was distracted and smiled evilly before he shot another bolt of black lightning at her.

"CELESTIA, LOOK OUT!" Discord yelled still lying on the floor next to the wall. But the bolt hit her and sent her flying back before she crashed next to Discord. Discord pulled himself closer to her and placed his talon hand on her cheek.

"Celestia, wake up! Please." Discord begged. Celestia then slowly opened her eyes and groaned.

Thorn then stepped forward. "Then again, you two do make an adorable couple….too bad it won't last." He growled before his glowed white.

Suddenly, black chains burst out the wall and wrapped themselves around different parts of Discord and Celestia's bodies before they pulled them both up high against the wall. Discord and Celestia struggled to get loose but the chins were too strong and tight.

Thorn chuckled as he approached Celestia's throne. Once he reached it, he sat down on it before he breathed in through his nose and exhale through his mouth. "Yes…this place will do nicely. It's the perfect place to suck the power out of your precious sister." Thorn said darkly. Celestia gritted her teeth as she struggled harder to get loose from the chains.

Thorn then looked around the room. "Although, this castle could use a little….REDACERATING." He stated before his horn glowed viciously white.

Suddenly, a large shadow started spreading from behind Thorn. It spread around the throne room until it was completely black, it also spread throughout the entire castle until it was completely black inside and out.

When the shadow faded, the colours of the castle and the throne room were dimmer, the walls were covered in cracks and the plants around the castle and in the gardens were now dead. Dark clouds then formed above the castle and started to thunder.

Thorn had an evil satisfied look on his face. "There, that's better isn't it. Now it's a castle worthy of my taste." Celestia and Discord had horrified looks on their faces while Luna began to open her eyes again.

Thorn then smiled darkly. "All…hail…King Thorn. AH-HAHAHAH." Thorn laughed evilly as lightning struck from the black clouds swirling above the castle.

To be continued 

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	24. Chapter 24: Thorn strikes back part 2

**I had to change some of the lyrics of the song I used in this chapter.**

Chapter 24: Thorn strikes back (part 2)

**Luna's castle**

"Come on guys! We have to get back to Ponyville before something bad happens." I yelled as we all galloped out the throne room and down the stairs. We decided to leave the dead guards where they were because we didn't have time to bury them.

I was surprised by how Fluttershy took little notice of the bodies. As we galloped past them, she just looked around at them with a devastated look and tried not to react too strongly.

We galloped out the lobby and down the castle grounds until we came back to the broken main gate. Once we reached it, we galloped up to the hot-air balloon and I stopped next to the basket. "Come on! Everypony in the basket, quickly." I ordered.

Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy then jumped into the basket before I jumped in with them. Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash tied the rope that was still attached to the basket around the waste.

Once she had the rope tied around her, I gave her a nervous look. "Ok Rainbow, just remember to start of slow before yo-WHOW." I yelled as Rainbow Dash once again shot off into the sky with great speed; pulling the balloon with us in it along with her.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot castle**

As Discord and Celestia were still chained to the wall, Thorn watched from the throne in amusement at the sight of Luna bucking her hind-legs against the black spikey bars of the cage she was in. she then spun around and shot a small beam of dark blue magic from her horn, but it had no effect on the cage bars.

"There's no use in trying to break out Luna, that cage is enchanted with my own special hex. Something I whipped up just for you." Thorn chuckled. Luna looked up at him and growled.

Celestia glared down at him from the wall. "Thorn. As the ruler of Equestria and the Princess of the sun, I demand you to release me, Discord and Luna from these imprisonments and return my castle to its former state." She demanded.

Thorn looked up at her with a devilish smile. "Oh, no need to worry Celestia! I'll let her go….after I claim what's rightfully mine." He said darkly before he got up off the throne and walked towards the centre of the throne room.

As he did, Luna backed up as far as she could until she hit the back of the cage.

Once Thorn was standing in the middle of the room, His horn glowed white and a large round stone table appeared in flash of light front of him. His horn continued to glow until there was a smaller flash and a large purple crystal floating in a glass case appeared in the middle of the stone table.

Thorn then turned his head to face Luna and a large deceitful grin grew on his face. Luna had a wondering look on her face as she looked at the strange crystal.

"Don't be afraid Luna! This won't hurt a bit." Thorn said before his horn glowed again and the glass case lifted off the crystal.

The crystal then shot a purple beam towards Luna and she screamed in pain once it made contact with her. "More like…A LOT. Hahaha." Thorn laughed evilly as Luna continued to scream in pain while Celestia and Discord watched her suffering in horror.

**Meanwhile: fields outside Ponyville**

After another long flight, we finally made it back to Ponyville. Rainbow Dash dove down to the ground while pulling the balloon with us in it down with her.

Once she landed with the balloon landing behind her, we all once again pulled ourselves up from inside the basket with a sick looks on our faces. "Well, there goes my other lung." I said before I climbed out of the basket with Twilight and the others climbing out after me.

Once we all calmed down, I walked up to everypony. "Alright, has everypony taken a breather?" I asked. Pinkie Pie then jumped in front of me. "Silly dilly, I don't need a breather. I can already breath real good." She said before she breathed in and out deeply with her mouth wide open.

I gave her an awkward look. "Ok, not what I meant. But that's not the case here."

Rarity stepped forward. "Yes, we must get to Canterlot castle before that ruffian Thorn and warn Princess Celestia."

I nodded to her. "Exactly, we don't have much time so let's get going." I said. Everypony then nodded before we all galloped into Ponyville.

**Ponyville streets**

We were all galloping as fast as we could through the streets until I noticed something and slowed down until I came to a stop.

Twilight and the others stopped behind me before Twilight walked up beside me. "Matt, is something wrong?" she asked in concerned voice.

I turned my head to face her. "Yeah, does it seem a bit….quiet to you?" I asked. Twilight and the others then looked around Ponyville to see that there was nopony in sight.

Fluttershy then quivered. "It's so quiet and dark, I don't like it. Where is everypony?"

"Yeah, this town's more deserted then a ghost town." Applejack said as she looked around at the lifeless town.

As we kept looking around for any sign of life, we heard a small voice up ahead. "Twilight, Matthew." It yelled.

We all looked ahead to see a small figure with two others running towards us. After a short while, the figure came more into view until we saw that it was Spike with Jeff and Peewee flying above him.

Once they reached us, Spike put his hands on his knees as he panted hard. Jeff and Peewee landed on the ground and collapsed while panting. "Twilight…Matt…you have to…do something…woo." Spike said between breaths as he wiped the sweat of his forehead.

"Spike, Jeff, Peewee, what's going on? Where is everypony?" I asked in a worried tone.

"Hiding." Peewee answered. "Yeah, we've been stuck inside the library since you guys left. We saw your balloon and flew over here as fast as we could." Jeff added as he continued to lie on the ground.

Fluttershy walked up to Jeff and Peewee and picked them up in her hooves before resting them like babies in her arms. "Oh, you poor things. You must be exhausted!" she said sweetly.

As she held them, Jeff looked at Peewee. "I don't know what's happening right now, but I think I like it." Peewee then nodded in agreement.

I rolled my eyes before I looked back down at Spike. "Spike, what's happened that's caused everypony to hide?"

"That." Spike answered as he pointed up towards Canterlot. We all looked up and gasped in shock at the sight of the city shrouded in darkness and black thunder clouds swirling above it.

"What's happening up there?" Twilight asked as she continued to stare up at Canterlot.

"….We're too late, Thorn's already beat us there." I said while looking up at Canterlot in devastation.

Rainbow Dash walked up beside me. "Well, what are we gonna do Matt?"

I thought for a moment. "We need to know what's going on up there." I said. "How? The castle is all the way up there and we're down here." Applejack said as she stepped forward.

I then looked at Jeff still in Fluttershy's arms. "Jeff."

Jeff looked at me. "What?"

"I need you to fly up there and see what's happening in the castle. Then come back and tell us what you've seen. Alright?" I said to him.

Jeff then stood up in Fluttershy's arms and moaned. "More flyin'? This is more flappin' then I've done all weak." He said before he took off into the air.

"Be careful Jeff." I yelled up to him. He turned his head around while he was still flying. "I'm always carful." He yelled down before he crashed into chimney.

I rolled my eyes as he pushed himself of the chimney and looked down at us. "I'm ok." He yelled down with a sheepish smile before he flew around the chimney and headed up to Canterlot.

We all then looked at each other before we started walking feather down the streets with Peewee now on Fluttershy's back.

**A short while later: Canterlot castle**

Jeff continued to fly towards the castle until he finally reached it. Once he did, he saw the throne room through a glass window and landed on the stone windowsill outside the castle.

He then looked through the glass to see Princess Celestia and Discord chained up against the wall and Thorn standing next to a large stone table with a large purple crystal in the middle of it. He then noticed that the crystal was shooting a beam at Luna who was curled up on the floor. "Dang, what's he doin' to her?" Jeff asked himself.

While Jeff was watching from outside, Luna was making small grunting noises as the crystal was sucked the magic out of her. Thorn stepped close to the cage. "Relax Luna! The crystal is almost full and then your powers will be gone and you'll be weaker than ever. Then I'll take them for my own." He said before he chuckled devilishly.

"You….won't get away with this Thorn….Matthew, Twilight and their friends….will come and….stop you." Luna said weakly.

Thorn then chuckled slightly. "Oh Princess, you really don't get it do you? I'm hoping Matthew will come. Because once he comes through those doors, he'll be dead before he even gets a chance to flinch." He growled.

"No." Luna said under her breath with a frightened look on her face while Jeff had a shocked look. Thorn laughed slightly at her devastation.

After hearing this, Discord tried to pull himself loose. "When I get a hold of you Thorn." He yelled in anger.

Thorn turned around and looked up a Discord with a smirk on his face. "I'm sooo worried. Hahaha."

Suddenly, Thorn's smirk faded once he heard a strange humming noise from behind him. He turned around slowly to see the beam on the crystal had stopped. The crystal hovered in the middle of the table while glowing black.

Thorn walked over to it and marvelled at it. "This is it….this is it….after years of planning….years of failed attempts…it's mine." He said to himself with a large smile on his face.

The crystal then hovered towards Thorn until it shot into his chest and he closed his eyes as he let out a small yell. He then started to glow black; he glowed darker and darker until his body was completely black. The glow then faded away.

Once it did, Thorn opened his eyes and looked down at his chest to see he was wearing a sliver metal necklace with the dark purple crystal in the middle of it.

Thorn then smiled evilly as he looked at his hoof to see it was glowing purple. "Hahaha, yes…YES…its mine. I can feel the power inside me. It feels magnificent. Hahaha."

Luna, Celestia and Discord were wide-eyed in horror and shock knowing that Thorn was more powerful now.

Thorn's horn then glowed and bolts of black electricity shot around everywhere. "It's mine, it's finally mine. The power…of the night. The power…of the moon. The power…of the DARKNESS." Thorn yelled in delight.

"You…monster." Luna said weakly with a sharp glare.

Thorn's evil smile grew. "The power of the Princess of the night…is mine…all mine." He said darkly before he started to sing.

**Thorn: **_"You may not like my new found power_

_But I think it's totally hot…_

_And you may hate the way I use it_

_But am I concerned?...I'm not…_

'_Cause the power to create is mine_

_And the power to change…oh joy…_

_The power to rearrange all life_

_And the power to destroooooy, hahahaha…._

_Now I give the orders and you're gonna take'em_

_Thing's gonna be the way that I make'em_

_I'll be the one who gets every break_

_You gotta love it!...Haaaa-ha _

_You gotta love it!..._

_Every day's gonna be a vacation_

_Now I'm the king of gratification_

_I'll do whatever I want every day_

_You gotta love it!...Woo-ho_

_You gotta love it!..._

_I'll take aim at any target_

_I'll stake claim to every wealth…_

_And I think I'll fill the cup of power_

_And drink it to my health…_

_Hey, I wanna wish up every pony_

_Everything anyone can consume_

_And thousands of life times all in one room_

_You gotta love it!...Ha-ha yeah_

_You gotta love it!...Oooooh_

_You gotta loooove this pooower of mine!"_

As Thorn was singing, more bolts of black lightning shot out of his horn like crazy. One shot towards the window and Jeff ducked down as it shot through the glass and over his head.

He then walked along the windowsill until he was behind a wall; he poked his head around the wall and continued to watch Thorn.

**Thorn: **_"I'll take aim at any target _

_I'll stake claim to every wealth_

_And I think I'll fill the cup of power_

_And drink it to my health…_

_I wanna wish up every pony_

_Everything anyone can consume _

_And thousands of life times all in one room_

_You gotta love it!...yeah_

_You gotta love it…Oooh_

_You gotta love…this pooower…of MIIIIINE!_

_Zow! Rock and roll…hahaha."_

Once Thorn finished singing, Jeff had an worried look on his face. "I Gotta tell Matt." He said under his breath before he stepped on one of the bricks on the windowsill. However once he did, the brick broke off and smash on the ground.

Thorn's ear twitched as he heard the smash and spun his head around to see Jeff behind the window. "Errr….hi." Jeff said as he waved before he laughed sheepishly.

Thorn growled. "Well, if it isn't Matthew's little pet…or should I say…SCOUT. Let's see if you can talk without a beak, shall we?" he said before he shot a bolt of black lightning towards Jeff.

"Time to go." Jeff quickly said before turned around and flew off before the bolt smashed through the window and hit Jeff through his tail feathers. "YOW." He yelled as it did.

As Jeff flew back down to Ponyville, Thorn watched him and a devious smile then crawled on his face. "Hmm, this must mean Matthew and his friends know I'm here. Good, then they'll be coming. And when they do….I will make Matthew suffer greatly before I rip the life out of him." Thorn said darkly before he chuckled again.

Luna couldn't help but let her ears lower as she shed a single tear out of devastation with a worried look on her face.

**A short while later: Ponyville streets**

We were all sitting in the streets waiting for Jeff to come back and tell us watch he saw up there, me and Twilight were pacing back and forth with concerned looks on our faces.

"He's been up there for too long." I said in a worried tone.

Twilight then walked up to me and placed her hoof on my shoulder. "He'll be ok Matt, he always was one for quick getaways when he got in trouble." She said in a confident tone.

I was still worried. "Yeah, but what if somethin' happened to him? What if he-" I was cut off by the sound of flapping behind me.

I turned around to see Jeff falling to towards us while yelling, Rainbow Dash saw this before she leaped forward and caught him on her back. We all galloped up to them.

"Jeff, what wrong? What did you see up there?" Applejack asked with a concerned tone.

Jeff took a few deep breaths before he jumped off Rainbow Dash's back and started to explain. "Ok, it's definitely Thorn up there and he's got-"

He couldn't finish his sentence as I cut in. "Your tail's on fire." I said as I pointed at his tail feathers.

He looked behind him to see smoke coming up from his tail feathers. He yelled fight before he beat his tail with his wings until it stopped smoking.

Rarity then stepped closer to him. "Wait! You saw Thorn? What's he doing?" Rarity asked.

Jeff then turned his attention to her. "He was in the throne room, he has Luna locked in some sort of cage, Celestia and Discord are chained to the wall, there was this weirdo glowing crystal thingy and for some reason there was some singing." He answered.

"Ew, singing? At this hour?" Pinkie Pie said with a raised eye brow.

"Yeah, but it had a catchy tune to it." Jeff added.

"Alright, singing matter aside. What was he doing?" I asked slightly frustrated.

Jeff then looked up at me. "Oh right, its Luna man. He's finally got her powers over the night and now he's more powerful than ever."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Of cause, Thorn's power must come from the darkness. If he has control over the night, that means the night can last as long as he wants it to. As long as it's dark, he'll be fully powered." She said in a slightly shocked tone.

"Great, it's Nightmare Moon all over again." Rainbow Dash stated in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, except this guy's way worse." Applejack added.

Twilight turned her head to face me. "So, what's the plan?"

I thought for a moment before I came up with something. "Ok here it is. We have to get up there, get Luna her powers back and free Celestia so she can raise the sun. That might be the only way to weaken Thorn." Everypony then nodded in agreement.

Jeff then flew up in front of me. "No dice dude, he knows you're all comin'. He said the second you step through the throne room doors, you're dead."

We all were stunned by this; I looked up at darkness surrounding Canterlot before I started to walk away. "Where are you going?" Twilight asked curiously.

I stopped and turned my head around to face her. "I'm going up there to stop Thorn, go back to the library with the others! You'll be safe there" I answered.

Twilight eyes widened. "Are you crazy? You're not going up there alone!" she protested.

"I'm the one he wants, Twilight. I can't let you get involved in his revenge against me." I said before I continued to walk away from her.

Twilight's horn glowed and she disappeared and reappeared in front of me in a flash of light. "And I'm not letting go up there to get yourself killed." She argued.

"Twilight, move!" I said in a loud voice. "No." She said back louder.

I then flapped my wings and took off into the air above her, but as I did, I felt something grab my tail and pull my back to the ground. I turned around to see Twilight had a magic hold on my tail.

"Matt. If you go up there, you are going to die." Twilight shouted.

"Better me then you and the Princesses." I shouted as I pulled myself out of her magic hold.

Everypony was wide-eyed in shock at what I just said, especially Twilight. "Matt, how could you say something like that? We love you, I love you." Twilight said.

"I know, I love you too. And that's exactly why I have to go there alone. Thorn wants to make me suffer, and he knows that killing you will make me suffer more than anything. He may be insane but he's smart." I said. Twilight just stared at me in silence.

"I can't lose you Twilight; Thorn tried to hurt you last time, if he sees you there he'll try it again. I'll never forgive myself if you got hurt or worse." I said before I hung my head slightly.

Everypony looked at each other in surprise before they continued to watch us. Twilight then walked up to me before she placed her hoof under my chin and raised my head back up.

We looked into each other's eyes before Twilight pressed her lips against mine. After a few seconds, we broke the kiss and she gave me an understanding look. "I can't lose you ether, Matt. You're the only colt I've ever loved."

I then gave her a warm smile before we shared a loving hug. "And you're the only girl I've ever loved." I said quietly as I hugged her.

There was a moment silence before Applejack tapped her chin. "Well…maybe we don't have'ta go through the throne room doors, why don't we'all just go through the window or somethin'?"

Jeff turned his head to face her. "Nah, he saw me watching through the window before I left. He'll probably be expecting somethin' like that now."

"And even if we tried, he'll see us coming a mile away. We'll never even reach the castle without him knowing." Rainbow Dash added as she hovered in the air.

"Oh, we can't go through the castle, we can't go through the window. What else can we do?" Fluttershy asked.

Rarity stepped forward. "I dare say we're in quite the big jamb. No matter what we do, he'll always be one step ahead of us." she said with her ears low.

Me and Twilight then separated and looked at the worried looks on our friends faces. I looked down at the ground as I tried to come up with an idea until I came up with one. "If we can't get to the throne room by going _into_ the castle, why don't we going into the throne room from _underneath_ the castle?"

Everypony then looked at me with confused faces. "What? You mean we should dig our way into the throne room?" Twilight asked with a raised eye brow.

Rarity walked up to me. "But digging is so….filthy." she said with an uncomfortable look.

"I know where you're goin' with this, sugar cube. But tunnel diggin' isn't really our speciality, ya know!" Applejack added.

I then gave her a smirk. "Who said we were the ones who were gonna dig? We need experts on digging tunnels, ones that'll dig a thousand tunnels just to get what they want….and I think I know just the guys." I said before I galloped past between Applejack and Rarity.

"Where're you going?" Twilight asked with a confused look on her face.

I turned my head around to see her. "To get us some help from very unlikely sources." I answered as I continued to gallop down the streets until I was out of sight.

**A short time later: Dirt lands near Ponyville**

After a short gallop, I finally reached the dirt lands. I walked along the grassless dirt looking around for any sign of life and for what I was looking for.

After looking around a bit, I finally found what I was looking for. A large deep hole in the ground. I walked up to it and looked down it to see nothing but darkness.

I gulped hard. "Right then." I said to myself before I closed my eyes, jumped down the hole and slid down the tunnel.

After a long slide, I finally hit the bottom with a hard thud. "Ah, so much for a soft landing." I groaned before I got up off the ground rubbing my head with my hoof.

After that, I looked around to see a large number of tunnels in front of me. "Hello? Diamond Dogs? Anypony here?" I called out.

I waited for an answer but there was only silence. Suddenly, I heard a noise above me and I felt a small amount of dirt fall on my head. I looked up and a Diamond Dag guard fell down from the dirt ceiling and landed on my back before he pulled a rope reins with a muzzle around my snout.

"Hey, get off!" I yelled as I started bucking around trying to throw the guard off. At that moment, another guard fell down in front of me with a spear in its hands.

The guard pointed the sharp end of his spear in front of my face and I went wide-eyed. "Ok, ok…you win. Listen! I'm looking for three Dogs; one of them is slightly tall, green eyes and wears a small gem around his neck. While the other two are his friends and followers."

The two guards remained silent before the one with the spear pulled the spear away from me, turned around and started walking towards one of the tunnels. I then felt the guard on my back kick me in the side; telling me to start moving, so I gave the guard a sharp glare before I started following the other guard down the tunnel.

After a while of forced walking, we finally arrived in a large room-like part of the tunnel. I looked around and recognized it as the same place where forced Rarity to mine for gems.

I then noticed the three original Diamond Dogs standing with their backs turned in the middle of the room. They heard us coming and turned around. Rover then walked up to the guard with the spear. "Dog, why have you brought this pony here? Don't you remember what happened last time we brought a pony down here?" he said before he shivered with a slightly frightened look on his face.

"We found him in the caves, he says he wants to talk to you." the guard answered. Rover then looked at me and walked up in front of me. The other guard then climbed off me and took the muzzle off my snout.

Rover then leaned down to my face and rubbed his chin. "Hmmm, don't I know you? You look familiar." He asked with a suspicious look.

I then smiled sheepishly. "Errr…yeah, you see…you probably don't remember me, but there was this book store and I was-"

Rover's eyes then widened slightly. "You, you're that crazy green pony that hurt us." he said with a small glare in his eyes.

"AHH, he's come to finish the job." Spot yelled in fear before he hid behind Fido. "Don't let him near us." Fido yelled.

I held my hoof up. "Alright, let's all just calm down for a minute. Yes, I'm the pony that beat you up. No, I'm not here to finish the job."

"Then why are you here?" Rover asked with a raised eye brow.

I looked up at him. "I need you and those other three to help me and my friends dig into Canterlot castle."

Rover was silent for a moment before he, Spot and Fido burst out into laughing. "Hahaha, do you hear that, Dogs? The pony needs our help to break into the pony Princess' castle." Rover said before he laughed again.

Spot stepped forward. "Yes, the pony is looking for some serious trouble if he's wanting to break into her castle."

"Ok, we don't want to break in. we want to sneak in. and right now, the only pony who's in trouble is Celestia." I said.

Fido walked up beside Rover. "How is the pony Princess in trouble?" he asked.

I looked at him. "There's an alicorn called Thorn up in the castle right now and he's keeping her captive. We need your digging skills to save her."

Rover glared down at me. "And what makes you think we're going to help you after what you did to us?"

"Because…if you don't, you won't get your reward." I said with a smirk growing on my face.

They then had a look of curiosity on their faces. "Reward? What kind of reward?" Fido asked curiously.

I smirked at him. "Well, the Princess is rich and I'm very popular with her. If you help, I could throw in a good word for you and she may be generous enough to say….give you as many gems as you can fit in your pockets." I said in a sly voice.

Spot then shot up in front of me with an excited look on his face. "GEMS? Just for digging one tunnel?"

I nodded. "Yep, I heard she has a whole vault filled with gems, diamonds, you name it! It's in there." Spot and Fido then looked at each other's with large smiles on their faces.

Rover then grabbed them by their tails and pulled them back to him. "We already dig for gems. And why would the pony Princess give us her gems anyway? We don't do anything for her." He snarled.

I stepped forward. "Yeah, but I'm sure she would give you something to show her gratitude. I mean, if you do this, you won't just be saving her life; you'll be saving the lives of Discord and her sister Luna." I explained.

Rover, Spot and Fido then had surprised looks on their faces. "Did you say….Discord?" Rover asked curiously.

"Yeah, why? Do you know him?" I asked curiously with a raised eye brow.

"Back where we came from, Discord was one of our idols." Fido answered.

"We worshiped him like a god, but now you say he's in the castle being held captive?" Rover asked.

I then thought up a sly idea. "Yeah, he is…but, you already said you didn't want to help so I think I'll just go and find somepony else to dig for us." I said before I turned around and walked away from the three Diamond dogs.

As I did, I looked back through the corner of my eye and grinned. "3, 2, 1." I counted under my breath before I heard Rover from behind me. "PONY." He yelled.

I then wiped the grin off my face and turned around to face him. "Did you call me?" I asked knowing that he did.

Rover walked up to me. "If we agree to help you, we want something in return." He stated.

"Name it!" I said. Rover then walked closer to me. "If we help, we want those gems you mentioned AND an audience with Discord." Rover stated.

The smirk returned to my face. "I think that can be arranged."

A delighted smile then appeared on Rover's face. "Yes, we finally get to meet the spirit of chaos and disharmony." He said to himself.

I raised my hoof. "Errr…ex-spirit of chaos and disharmony. He's not technically a spirit anymore."

Rover's smiled then turned into a shocked frown "What? How?" Fido asked in a shocked tone.

"He was stripped of his name by that Thorn guy I mentioned before. Now he has no name and only half his magic." I explained.

After hearing this, Rover's shocked face turned into an angered one. "This is unacceptable, nopony out masters lord Discord. Nopony." He yelled in anger.

Spot and Fido then walked up beside him. "Yes, nopony messes with Discord and gets away with it." Fido stated.

"So does this mean we have a deal?" I asked with a hopeful smile.

They all looked at each other and nodded before they looked back at me. "Deal." They all said.

I stuck my hoof out in front of Rover. "Trues?"

Rover then grabbed my hoof and shook it up and down. "Trues." He repeated.

We then let each other go. "Right then, we have to get to the surface and regroup with Twilight and the others." I said. The Diamond Dogs then nodded before we I galloped back into the tunnel with the Diamond Dogs following behind.

After a short while, we came to the tunnel that I fell down through and I flew back up it with the Diamond Dogs climbing behind me. I was surprised by how quick they could climb up a long tunnel.

After which, we finally made it to the surface and I looked at my coat to see I was covered in dirt. I then shook myself and all the dirt came off me like dust. I then turned my head around to the Diamond Dogs. "Come on! We have to hurry." I said. They then nodded before we all headed towards Ponyville.

**Ponyville streets**

After a short gallop, I looked ahead to see Twilight with Jeff on her back and the others waiting for me in the streets. Once I saw them, I galloped fast towards then.

Twilight then noticed me and she galloped up to me with the others behind her. "Hey guys, miss me?" I asked in a playful tone.

"Matt, where'd you go? Canterlot's getting darker by the minute." Twilight said with a worried look on her face.

"I know, but don't worry! I got us some help." I said before I stepped to the side to reveal the Diamond Dogs standing a few feet behind me.

Everypony then gasped in shock. "Matt, don't you know who those guys are. They're those dog things that kidnapped Rarity one time." Spike said in a shocked tone.

Once they heard that name, the Diamond Dogs turned their heads to see Rarity looking at them in shock. "AHHH, it's the winey pony." Rover yelled in terror.

"Ahh, keep her away! Keep her away!" Fido yelled as he took a few steps back.

"This is just a nightmare, any minute now I'll wake up on my rocks next to my stuffed bear Mr Nuggles." Spot cried with his hands over his eyes.

Rover and Fido then looked down at him with confused looks before looking back at us. "You never said SHE would be here. We're not doing this if she's involved." Rover stated with a small glare.

I stepped closer to them. "Oh come on! Can't you just let it go?" I asked in a frustrated tone.

"No, she's too much trouble to be around." Fido stated.

I then let out an annoyed sigh before I turned my head to Rarity. "Rarity, can you help me here?" she then nodded and walked up to the Diamond Dogs.

Once she did, she was silent for a moment before she pretended to frown. "Awww, why won't you help us? Do you hate us? We really need you're heeeelp. Please, please, pleeeease dig for us. We can't do it without you, PLEEEESE." Rarity wined loudly.

Rover, Spot and Fido had their hands to their ears as Rarity continued wining until Rover couldn't take it anymore. "ENOUGH, alright, alright we'll help you. Just make her stop." He yelled.

I then walked up beside Rarity. "Alright Rarity, you can stop now." I said while facing her. She then stopped wining and Rover, Spot and Fido removed their hands from their ears.

I then took a step forward. "OK, so you're gonna dig under the castle and into the throne room with no funny business, right?" the three dogs then nodded fast.

I nodded back. "Good, then let's all get to the train station to catch a train Canterlot. Thorn might not be expecting that."

Pinkie Pie then walked up beside me. "But, I thought you said that the trains won't run in this amount of darkness." She said with a raised eye brow.

I turned my head to face her. "Well, we're just gonna have to drive it ourselves." I said in a slight confident tone.

Everypony then looked at me in surprise. I then turned around to Twilight and the rest of the main 6. "Alright, let's go!" I said before I started walking down the street with before Twilight, the rest of the main 6, Spike and the Diamond Dogs began to follow behind me.

As we got closer to the train station, Twilight walked up beside me as we continued to walk. "How did you get the Diamond Dogs to agree to help us anyway?" she asked curiously.

I turned my head to face her. "Oh…I just said that they would probably get a big reward if they helped us."

Twilight raised her eye brow. "And what kind of reward would that be?"

"Errr…you know!...gems and…an audience with Discord." I said nervously.

Twilight then had a slight confused look on her face. "I understand the gems part, but why would they want to meet Discord?" she asked.

"Ah, something about him being their idol once and worshiping him like a god. But that's not important, what is important is the fact that their actually helping us. Trust me Twi; this is all going to work out." I said giving her a confident smile.

She then smiled back at me. "OK, Matt. I trust you." she said sweetly.

We then continued to walk until we finally reached the train station to see it was abandoned too. There wasn't anypony in sight.

We saw the Friendship Express on the tracks and we all got into the front cart. While everypony sat down on the seats, Me, Twilight and Applejack walked into the engine room and I looked at the controls while rubbing my chin.

"You do know how to start this thing, right sugar cube?" Applejack asked with a nervous look on her face.

I turned my head to face her. "Errr…yeah…you just…twist this thing…and then press that…and then…pull down on this thing." I said before I pull down on a chain and a loud whistle blew which caused us all to cover our ears in pain.

Once the whistle stopped, Twilight and Applejack looked at me with annoyed faces and I smiled sheepishly. Fido then came into the engine room. "What was that?" he asked annoyed tone.

I turned around to face him. "Sorry, just trying start the train."

Fido then rolled his eyes. "That was the whistle, move aside pony! You have the train intelligents of a gerbil." He said before he pushed me aside and pulled back on a lever. The train then started to move forward up the tracks.

We were now going faster up the mountain towards Canterlot. I looked up at Fido. "How do you know how a train works?" I asked curiously.

Fido looked down at me. "When you've worked in a mine you entire life, you learn a few things about engines."

Me, Twilight and Applejack then looked at each other before we walked into the front cart to regroup with the others and leave Fido to drive the train.

We then sat down on the seats. I couldn't shake the thought of what might happen when we get to Canterlot. Now that Thorn has Luna's magic, who knows what he can do. He could be watching us right now, learning our plan and preparing for it. The whole thought made my face pale with slight fear.

Rover then noticed my worried look. "Errr…pony, your face is white. Why is this?" he asked curiously.

I snapped out of my thought and turned my head to him. "Huh? Oh, I'm just worried about what'll happen when we get there. And my names Matthew by the way."

Spot then turned his head to me and gave me a confused look. "Matthew? That's a weird name."

I narrowed in annoyance my eyes. "So I've heard." I said before I looked back at the floor.

"Rover." I heard a voice say.

I looked back up to look at Rover. "What was that?" I asked him with a raised eye brow.

"That's my name, Rover. And this is Spot and that's Fido." Rover said as he pointed to Spot who was sitting next to him and Fido in the engine room.

I gave him a small smile. "Ok Rover, so are you and your friends getting ready to dig that tunnel? Because you need to dig fast."

Rover nodded. "Yes, we're ready. We'll teach this Thorn guy not to mess with lord Discord."

I then gave him a proud nod before I leaned back on my seat and waited for us to stop in Canterlot.

**Canterlot: Train station**

After a long train ride, we finally made it to Canterlot. We all galloped out the train and headed towards the castle.

As we did, we noticed something and came to a stop. We looked around the city to see that there was nopony in sight, just like Ponyville. "Wow, I've never see these streets so empty." I said.

Spot looked around at the city. "So this is the pony city? It's so big, so colourful with so much air. How can you ponies stand to live here?" he asked with an inconvertible look.

Applejack turned her head to face him. "You get used to it." She said with her eyes narrow.

We then noticed a pair of high class ponies walk by with suitcases in their mouths. I then walked up to them. "Excuse me! Where are you going?" I asked.

The male high class pony placed his suitcase on the ground before he spoke to me. "Where do you think? We're getting out of here while we're still alive."

The female high class pony then placed her suitcase on the ground before she spoke. "Everypony in Canterlot is leaving, the castle's been overrun. We don't want to be around for whatever's going to happen here."

The male high class pony then turned his head to her. "Come along dear, we have to go NOW." He yelled before he and the female high class pony grabbed their suitcases and galloped away.

I then looked ahead to see the castle gates up the road. "The castles right over there, come on! We're nearly there." I said before I galloped towards the gates with the others following.

Once we reached them, I rammed right through them; swinging them wide open. Twilight and the others followed.

We then looked at the castle to see it in its dark state. It wasn't as colourful as it used to be and there were cracks and dead plants everywhere. The Diamond Dogs look at the castle in fright. "We're…going to go in there? In that creepy dark castle?" Spot asked quivering slightly.

Jeff turned his head to face him. "Trust me, it's worse on the inside. Especially with Thorn in there, the guy so evil he can bite your head off."

The Diamond Dogs then gulped hard. I looked down at Jeff. "Jeff, no helping."

He looked up at me. "Not lying." Was his only response.

I rolled my eyes before walked in up in front of everypony to get their attention. Once I had it, I explain the plan. "Ok, we all know the plan. We dig a tunnel under the castle and come up through the throne room floor. Once we do, I'll use the Element of Bravery to break Luna out then I'll break Celestia and Discord free. Then we'll get Luna her magic so she can lower the moon and Celestia can raise the sun; weakening Thorn and giving us the chance to catch him. Any questions?"

Everypony was silent before Fido raised his hand. "Yes Fido?" I said pointing at him.

"Errr…do I have time to pee?" Fido asked sheepishly.

I face-hooved myself in frustration. "Oh for the love of…fine, go! But be quick." I said in annoyance before he shot of and dove into a nearby bush.

I then turned my head to the others. "Ok while he's doing that. Rover and Spot, start digging!" I ordered.

Rover and Spot then walked up to where I was standing and started digging through the ground. Rainbow Dash then walked up beside me. "But, what about Thorn? He'll be waiting for us in the throne room. What if he sees us coming through the floor?"

My eyes then widened. "CRAP, you're right. We need to get him out of the throne room before we dig our way in!"

Applejack then stepped forward. "How in the hay are we gonna do that?" she asked with a raised eye brow.

"We're gonna need a distraction, something they'll keep him out of the throne room until we free the Princesses and Discord." Twilight said.

"But what kind of distraction?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

At that moment, Fido came back and stood next to the hole Rover and Spot made. Rover and Spot then poked their heads up from inside the hole. "I think I know a way to distract him." Rover said.

I looked down at him curiously. "Really? How?" I asked.

Rover then looked at Spot and Fido with a devious smile. They gave him nervous looks. "Errr…why are you looking at us like that?" Fido asked.

**A short time later: Canterlot castle lobby**

Thorn was standing in front of a large Green ball of fire hovering in the middle of the lobby.

"Yes brother, I now possess Princess Luna's magic over the night itself. I feel more powerful than ever before. And soon my rule with shroud Equestria in eternal chaos." Thorn said evilly.

"Your rule Thorn? Surly, you mean mine. Remember who your superior is!" A dark male voice said inside the fire.

Thorn's evil smile faded. "O-of cause…brother. And after I kill Celestia I'll-" Thorn was cut off by the dark voice.

"You will do no such thing Thorn, I am the one who will kill Celestia. Understand?" The voice said loudly as the flames on the fire grew larger.

Thorn took a few steps back with a slightly frightened look on his face. "Y-yes brother, Celestia will not be harmed until you arrive."

The flames then lowered. "Good…and what of Matthew? Has he showed up yet?" the voice growled.

"No sign of him yet, but I know he's coming. And when he does, I will personally take care of him myself. He'll pay for what he did to me." Thorn said in an angered tone.

"Don't underestimate him Thorn! He may be a pathetic little creature, but he's proven himself to be a worthy opponent. Especially now he has control of the Element of Bravery." The voice said.

Thorn growled. "That doesn't matter to me; I will kill Matthew and destroy that useless Element along with him."

"You had better Thorn! Otherwise don't bother coming back here…or else I'll kill you myself." The voice said darkly before the floating fire ball died down until there was nothing left.

Once the green fire ball was gone, Thorn growled in anger. "Pompous windbag, thinking he can order me around. I the magic over the night now, I should be the one making the orders, not him."

Thorn's angered look turned into a deceitful smile. "No matter. Once I've dealt with Matthew and his friends, I'll go after him next and take his throne for myself." He then chuckled darkly.

Suddenly, there was a loud knock on the main double doors. Thorn looked at them in frustration. "What? Who dares interrupt me?" he then walked up to the doors and used his magic to pull them wide open.

Thorn looked down to see Spot and Fido standing in front of him with nervous looks on their faces. "Who or what are you?" he growled.

"Oh, we're Diamond Dogs and we're here to serve you as our new master. Hahaha." Fido laughed nervously.

"Yes, we're definitely not here to distract you or anything." Spot said before Fido smacked him across the head.

Thorn raised his eye brow. "Hmmm…I could use some servants. But what makes you worthy to serve me?"

Fido then thought fast. "Oh, we do lots of things. Stealing, rampaging, kidnapping, stealing."

"You said stealing twist." Thorn pointed out.

Fido and Spot shifted their eyes at each other before looking back at Thorn. "We…like stealing." Spot said.

Thorn was silent before an impressed smile came on his face. "Interesting, maybe you are useful to me."

Fido and Spot nodded fast. "Yes, and we're good at digging." Fido added.

"Yes, especially when we're digging a tunnel under a castle." Spot said before Fido smacked him across the head again.

Thorn then gave then suspicious looks while they smiled nervously and started to sweat.

**Meanwhile: Throne room**

After a while of digging, we finally reached the surface under the throne room, but there was a stone tile blocking the way up. I slowly lifted it up I looked through the gap to see that Thorn wasn't there.

I then lifted the stone tile and placed it aside before I climbed out the tunnel with Rover climbing out behind me. I then saw Twilight climbing up after him and I helped her up.

After that, I looked around the throne room and saw Luna sitting in the middle of a black spikey gage with her head hanging. I walked up to the cage and tapped the bars with my hoof.

She looked up and a surprised look came on her face. "Matthew, what are you doing here?"

"We're busting you out of there and stopping Thorn." I said in a confident tone before I noticed something about her. "Luna, did he give you that black eye?"

She nodded and I felt anger boil inside me. "I'm gonna punch him in the throat." I growled before I started pulling on the bars.

Luna walked up to the bars and gave me a worried look. "Matthew, you shouldn't be here. Thorn's going to kill you if he sees you."

"Don't worry! We've got him distracted. Hopefully those Diamond Dogs can keep him occupied." I said as I pulled harder on the bars. I then lost my grip and as I fell back, one of the spikes scratched my arm.

After I fell back, I held onto my arm in pain. "Ah, shit." I yelled before I looked at my arm to see it was bleeding slightly. Twilight walked up to me with a concerned look on her face "Are you ok?"

I turned my head to face her. "Don't worry Twi, it's just a scratch." I then shook off the pain and closed my eyes.

Suddenly, I could see a light through my eye lids and when the light faded, I opened my eyes and looked down at my chest to see I was wearing the Element of Bravery.

I then walked up to the cage. "Ok Luna, stand back!" I said before Luna took a few steps back. I then placed my front hooves together and a green shield disc appeared in between my hooves as I opened them.

I then held the disc in one hoof and quickly sliced right through the bars. After a second, the bars fell off the cage and Luna walked out. She then smiled warmly at me. "…Thank you Matthew."

I smiled back. "Don't mention it."

As Twilight and Rover walked up beside me, the rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff and Peewee came up through the tunnel and noticed us. "Yee-haa, ya'all did it. Ya freed the Princess." Applejack cheered.

"But where's Princess Celestia and Discord?" Rarity asked.

Jeff then landed in front of her. "Up there." He said as he pointed to the wall. We all looked up and gasped at the sight of Celestia and Discord chained up against the wall.

Twilight galloped up close to them. "Princess Celestia, are you alright?" she yelled up to her.

"Twilight, you need to get us down! Quickly." Celestia said as she tried to push herself loose. I then walked up beside Twilight and made two shield discs in my front hooves before I threw them up towards Celestia and Discord.

The discs then hit the chains; cutting through them. And Celestia and Discord fell to the floor and landed on their feet. They both took deep breaths before they finally calmed down. "Thank you Matthew, I was starting to cramp up there." Discord said as he stretched his arms out.

Rover then walked up to Discord with a large smile on his face. "Oooh, lord Discord. It is an honour to finally meet you." he then bowed repeatedly at Discord's feet.

Discord gave him a confused look. "Errr…who's the dog?"

I held my hoof up. "I'll explain later, right now we need to get you three out of here." I said. Celestia and Discord then looked at each other before they looked back at me and nodded in agreement.

We all then regrouped with the others by Luna's cage and as we were about to walk towards the doors, Twilight gasped loudly and tackled me to the ground before a bolt of black lightning shot past above us.

Me and Twilight got up and looked where the bolt came from to see Thorn standing in the doorway with an angered look on his face and Spot and Fido hovering beside him. "I should have known you would try something as devious as this. But seriously Matthew, Diamond Dogs? Tunnels? You disappoint me." Thorn said before he threw Spot and Fido towards us and they crashed to the floor in front of us.

I then glared at Thorn. "Give it up Thorn! There's 16 of us and only one of you."

Thorn then grinned evilly as he walked closer to us. "Then I'll just have to fix that, won't I?" his horn then glowed white and Twilight, the rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff, Peewee, Celestia, Discord, Luna and the Diamond Dogs disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared behind the throne room doors.

"WHAT THE?" Twilight yelled in surprise before Thorn's horn glowed again and the throne room doors slammed shut. Thorn then used his black lightning to weld the doors shut before he shot his head around to me.

As I took a few steps back, I looked at the tunnel and leaped towards it but a bolt of black lighting shot into me; sending me flying back and crashing into the wall.

Thorn then walked up to the hole and his horn glowed. Suddenly, black thorny vines covered up the hole; blocking the tunnel.

After I picked myself up, I looked at Thorn who was giving me a devilish smile. I then glared at him before I created two shield discs in my two front hooves.

Thorn raised his eye brow. "Oh…so it's a fight you want huh? Well then…let's see if your precious Element con withstand the full power of the darkness." He then flapped his wings and hovered in mid-air in the middle of the room.

"Prepare to die, runt!" Thorn growled as black lightning began to form around his horn.

I then flapped my wings and shot towards him before I threw both discs at him; beginning the battle.

To be continued 

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**The song used in the chapter is called **_**you gotta love it**_** from the cartoon movie **_**Swan Princess 2.**_** I do not own anything.**

**To Mike101, I would like to apologize for any annoyance that I may have placed upon you during our PM talks. I hope you can forgive me.**

**To my readers, I would like to recommend a story for you to read and review. It's called **_**MLP: Nightmare Unicorns **_**by the FanFic author **_**Najee**_**. It's a good story.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon. **


	25. Chapter 25: Thorn strikes back part 3

**Sorry it has taken so long.**

**I've noticed in some of my reviews that some of you are asking for more conflict in Matt and Twilight's relationship. I understand this and there will be more conflict, but only in future chapters.**

**Warning: Long chapter.**

Chapter 25: Thorn strikes back (part 3)

The two shield discs shot towards Thorn with great speed. As they were about to hit him, Thorn used both his wings to shield himself. The two discs then smashed against his wings.

While he wasn't looking, I flapped my wings harder and shot towards him. As I did, I pulled my hoof back and caught him off guard by punching him hard in the jaw as he removed his wings from his face; sending him flying back and crashing against the throne room doors.

"How did that happen? I didn't hit him that hard." I thought before I looked at my hoof to see it was glowing green. I then looked at the green crystal on my Element to see it too was glowing green.

"Whow, the Element must have some sort of effect on my attacks….cool." I said to myself before I noticed Thorn was getting back up. I then repeatedly created green shield discs in my hooves and threw them at Thorn.

Thorn was quick, he kept using his left wing to block himself from my discs until he got slow and one of them smashed in his face; temporarily blinding him. I took this opportunity and shot towards him with both my arms stuck out in front of me. My hooves started to glow green as I got closer to him.

Thorn's sight returned and his eyes widened at the sight of me flying towards him. He growled as his horn glowed and I felt myself move faster towards him. I stopped flapping my wings but I just kept going. Thorn then stepped out the way and I crashed against the doors.

Meanwhile behind the door, Twilight and the others flinched at the sudden pound against the doors. Twilight galloped up to them and tried to push them open. "I…can't open them…we have to…get in there…and help Matt." She grunted as she pushed harder.

Twilight then accepted that it was no use and stepped away from the doors. She then turned her head to face Princess Celestia. "Princess, can't you do something? Can you teleport us back in there?" she asked with a worried look on her face.

Celestia then closed her eye and her horn glowed, her horn then started flickering and stopped glowing. "Something's wrong, my horn won't work." She said.

Twilight's eyes widened in shock. "What? But that's not possible. Isn't it?"

Celestia turned her head to face Discord. "Discord, can you get us back in there?"

Discord gave her an unsure look. "I'll try." He then snapped his fingers and nothing happened. He then tried again repeatedly but all failed.

Twilight then closed her eyes and her horn glowed only to fail also. "Why is this happening? We can't use our magic." Twilight said as she tapped her horn with her hoof.

Celestia gave her a serious look. "Thorn must have put some sort of hex on the castle when he took over. It must be blocking our magic so we would be powerless to fight him."

Discord walked up beside her. "That would explain why we couldn't get ourselves down from that wall."

Spike then stepped forward. "Then we have to get out of here, maybe your magic will work if were outside then castle.

Luna looked down at him. "Won't Thorn be expecting something like that?"

Celestia walked up to her. We have to try. Come along everypony! There's no time to lose." she then galloped down the hallway.

Spike climbed up onto Twilight's back before she, Discord and Luna followed Celestia with the main 6 following behind. Jeff and Peewee flew onto Fido's shoulders before he, Rover and Spot ran after them.

Meanwhile, Thorn was using his magic to throw me around the room like a rag-doll, slamming me against the walls, ceiling and floor. Thorn smiled evilly as he watched my pain. He then pulled me in front of him and his smile grew before he pushed me away with great force; sending me crashing into the throne before I fell down from it and rolled down to small flock of stairs in front of it.

"This is a poor excuse for a battle, stand up and fight you meddling runt." Thorn ordered in an angered tone.

I grunted as I weakly stood back up and glared at Thorn. Once I got my strength back, I placed both my front hooves together and opened them; creating a green shield disc in both hooves. I then threw them towards Thorn only for them to shoot strait past him.

Thorn then gave me an unimpressed look. "Now that was just pathetic."

I then grinned as the two discs rotated around and smashed against the back of Thorn's head; causing him to face the floor as he yell in pain. He then gave me a sharp glare before he flapped his wings and flew up to the ceiling. I then flapped my wings and flew up until I was at the same level he was.

We then shot towards each other. Once we made contact, we both started throwing punches and kicks at each other while trying to keep ourselves in the air. I got a lucky hit as I punched his in the jaw which caused him to fly backwards a bit before he growled and flew back to me. He then bucked me in the chest with one of his hind-legs; causing me to wrap me arms around my chest while grunting in pain.

As I was trying to shake off the pain, Thorn's horn glowed and a bolt of black lighting shot out of it and hit me; sending me crashing into the wall. Thorn smiled evilly at this.

I shook off the daze and pushed myself off the wall before I shot towards Thorn with my left arm bent back ready to punch. My hoof started to glow green as I got closer to Thorn.

Once close enough, I pushed my glowing hoof out in front of me only to have Thorn grab it with both of his front hooves and start spinning me around in circles. As he spun me around faster and faster, I grabbed his arm with my other hoof before both my front hooves started glowing green.

I then spread my wings out and caught onto the air until I was in control and started spinning Thorn around. We both spun around with great speed before I noticed that Thorn's grip on my hoof was loose, I then forced myself to spin him around faster before I let him go.

Thorn crashed through the window causing it the fall to pieces. I flew up to the smashed window and looked down at the castle grounds to see that Thorn wasn't on there; I flew down and landed on the ground before looked around for him.

Thunder struck from the dark clouds above me as I slowly walked through the dead garden-like area; keeping my guard up for any type of strike. I heard a dark chuckle in the wind which caused me turn my head in different directions to see where it was coming from. It was quiet; the only sound I could hear was the thunder clouds and my heavy breathing.

Suddenly, I heard I loud growl and I turned around fast to see Thorn pounce down onto me and pinned me to the ground by stomping his hoof down on my throat; causing me to choke as he pressed down harder. As I stared to gasp for air, I looked at Thorn's smiling face to see he had a cut on his left cheek which must have come from the broken glass.

It started to get hard to breathe before I whacked one of my hide-legs against Thorn's stomach; causing him to grunt and remove his hoof from my throat. Once free, I threw my hoof up and punched him across the face before I quickly got back up and galloped towards the castle.

Thorn rubbed his cheek as he saw me go and growled in anger. He then galloped after me while flapping his large wings to make himself go faster. As I looked ahead to see a wooden door that lead back inside the castle, I looked behind me to see Thorn galloping towards me fast so I galloped harder.

Once I reached the door, I burst through it and slammed the door behind me just as Thorn was about to reach it. I held myself back against the door as Thorn pounded on it, the door started to crack with each pound that was forced upon it until the pounding stopped.

It was silent for a moment and I rested my head back against the door while panting. Suddenly, Thorn's horn stabbed through part of the door beside me which made me yell out in fright. He pulled his horn out and stabbed it through another part of the door above my head.

He continued to stab his horn through the door until his horn stabbed through a part next to my side which made a big cut on it. "AH, FUCK." I yelled in pain. I don't usually like to swear, but this really hurt.

I pushed myself off the door and held my hoof against my side. I removed my hoof to see the nasty cut on my side, blood started to run down from it and drip on the floor.

Just then, Thorn broke through the door and steam shot out his nostril's as he grunted in anger. As I tried to shake of the pain in my side, Thorn grabbed me behind my neck with his jaws and threw me back outside. I hit the ground hard before I started to pull myself along the ground.

Thorn laughed as he slowly approached me. "Is this it? This is the best you can give me? I've had stronger opponents in my sleep." he said with a snarl.

I picked myself up and turned around to face Thorn. He glared at me as his horn glowed before a bolt of black lightning burst out from it and shot towards me. I stuck my hoof out and a green forcefield formed around me and protected me from the bolt.

Thorn then came closer to me with the lightning still shooting from his horn and it got harder to keep the shield up. As Thorn got closer, the shield started to crack. I knew the shield wasn't going to last so I quickly lowered the shield and jumped out the way of the black bolt.

Thorn growled before he shot another bolt towards me. I quickly created a green shield disc in my hooves and held it up in front of me. The bolt then hit it and reflected back at Thorn.

Thorn went wide-eyed in surprise before the bolt hit him; sending him flying toward the main gates of the castle. He smashed through them and crashed to the ground.

I took a few second to catch my breath before I walked towards him. "How's that Thorn? It's not so pointless now, is it?" I yelled over to him.

He got up off the ground and grinned as he held his hoof against his chest. "Maybe not….but you're still just one little pony. And you will die tonight." He said darkly.

"I wouldn't count on it, Twilight and the others will be here any minute. Then we're really gonna kick your ass." I said as I stopped a few feet away from him.

Thorn's grin grew. "We'll see."

At that moment, Twilight and the others appeared at the top of the stairs in the lobby. Twilight looked out the doorway to see me and Thorn. "Matt, over here." she yelled.

I turned around to see her at the top of the stairs. "Twilight, could you lend me a hoof out here?" I yelled back.

Luna then walked up beside Twilight. "Matthew, you must destroy the dark crystal! It holds my powers over the night. If you smash it, maybe the powers will return to me."

I was surprised that it was that easy to get her powers back. "Oh is that it? That sounds easy."

"It's around Thorn's neck." Luna yelled back.

I narrowed my eyes. "Oh, that sounds difficult."

Twilight then noticed Thorn coming up behind me and she went wide-eyed. "Matt, behind you." she yelled.

I turned around to see Thorn leap towards me. Before he reached me, I pulled my hoof back before I pushed it up and punched Thorn in the chin; sending him falling back against the ground.

Twilight and the others galloped down the stairs and headed towards the doorway. Thorn leaned up and noticed this. "Oh no you don't." he growled before his horn glowed white and the main doors slammed shut before Twilight or any of the others could get out.

I looked back at Thorn to see him get back up and glare at me. "Nopony interferes with this fight…or your death." He said darkly before black lightning began to form around his horn which caused me to take a few steps back.

**Meanwhile: Castle lobby**

Twilight and Luna tried to push the doors open but it wouldn't open and they gave up. "It's no use, we can't open it." Luna stated.

"Well what are we gonna do? We need to get out there before something terrible happens to Matt." Twilight said in a worried tone.

Jeff then flew onto Twilight's back. "I say we ram it down."

Twilight turned her head around to face him. "But this is a royal castle; we can't just go breaking doors down."

Jeff crossed his wings. "You got a better idea?" Twilight and Luna just looked at each other as they thought about it.

Celestia then stepped forward. "As extreme as that sounds, he has a point. We have to get out of the castle." She then looked around and saw a statue of a royal alicorn by the wall. She then looked at the Diamond Dogs. "Dogs, can you lift up that statue over there?"

They looked at the statue before they looked back at Celestia and nodded. "Yes, we can lift up statue. We knock down door for pony Princess." Rover said as he, Spot and Fido walked up to the statue before they pushed it over.

Rover and Fido then walked over to each side of the statue and placed their hands underneath it while Spot grabbed it by the stand. They then lifted the statue up and carried it back to where Celestia was standing before they readied themselves to charge at the door.

"Ready? 1, 2, 3." Rover yelled before they charged towards the door with the top of the statue pointing at the door. They rammed the statue into the door only to make a dent in the doors.

"Try in again." Rarity said. The Diamond Dogs then walked backwards and once again charged at the door. They rammed into the door and made the dent bigger.

They did this 5 more times and the doors still wouldn't open. Suddenly, there was a cold wind and a slight moaning in it which got everypony to look around. "What's that noise?" Spike asked in a frightened tone.

Celestia had a sharp look on her face as she examined the room. "What in Equestria is that?" Applejack asked from across the room. Celestia looked at her to see she was pointing towards a wall.

Celestia looked at the wall to see a large shadow moving down the wall. They all took a few steps back as the shadow moved along the floor and stop in the middle.

Twilight and the others watched in silence as the shadow slowly rose from the floor and formed itself in the shape of an alicorn that was identical to Thorn's appearance with glowing red eyes. Twilight and the others were wide-eyed in shock at the sight of this.

At that moment, two more large shadows moved down the wall and along the floor until they were beside the shadow alicorn. They then did the same thing until they were both in the shape of an alicorn as well.

"What do we do now?" Fluttershy asked in a frightened tone as she hid behind Celestia's legs. Twilight stepped forward while glaring at the shadow alicorns. "We fight our way out."

Everypony looked at each other and nodded before they faced the shadow alicorns with sharp glares before they all charged at them. The three shadow alicorns then charged towards Twilight and the others.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot streets**

Me and Thorn had taken our fight to the abandoned streets of Canterlot. At this point, I was badly bruised, my mane, tail and feathers were all ruffled and I had a black eye. Thorn had a few bruises and some small cuts on his body. Our fight has caused a lot of damage around Canterlot, buildings had massive holes in them and giant pieces of rubble were everywhere.

I was taking cover behind a large part of rubble while Thorn was shooting bolts of black lightning at me from his horn from down the street. "Stop being a coward boy! Come out and fight me!" Thorn yelled as he shot another bolt of black lightning out his horn.

The blot hit the rubble and I covered my face with my hoof as part of it blew off. I then created a green shield disc in my front hooves and threw it like a Frisbee to the side, it then rotated around and smashed across thorn's face; causing him to stop attacking.

I took this opportunity to jump over the rubble and charge towards Thorn. Once close enough, I punched towards him with one hoof ready to punch. He looked up at me and gasped.

As I threw my hoof forward, Thorn disappeared in a poof of black smoke. I fanned away the smoke in front of my face and I heard a loud poof behind me, I then felt something hard hit me behind my head and I turned around to see another cloud of black smoke. "I don't like where this is going." I said to myself.

Suddenly, Thorn appeared in a poof of black smoke beside me and punched his hoof across my face before he disappeared in another poof of black smoke. He continued to disappear and reappeared all around me and punch me in different parts of my body.

"This is getting ridicules." I yelled before everything went silent and I waited with a sharp look in my eyes. Suddenly, I heard a loud poof behind me and I quickly turned around to see Thorn throw his hoof at me. I dodged his punch and my left hoof glowed green as I threw it up and punched Thorn in the jaw; sending him flying back down the streets and crashing into a building.

I flew up to the hole in the building and tried to see through the cloud of dust inside. Suddenly, a pair of red eyes shot open in the dust cloud and a bolt of black lightning shot out and stuck me in the chest; sending me flying back and crashing into a lamp post causing it to fall over.

Thorn stepped out of the dust cloud and flew towards me while growling. I was lying on my back on the ground before I leaned up and rubbed my head. I then opened my eyes to see Thorn coming towards me; I started pushing myself backwards until I felt one of my front hooves hit something.

I turned my head around to see my hoof next to the stand of the fallen lamp post. I then smirked and rolled over back on my hooves.

I then grabbed the end of the lamp post and grunted as I tried to pick it up. The crystal on my Element started to glow green before both my front hooves started to glow green as well. I felt myself pick up the end of the lamp post and I turned my head around to see Thorn coming closer.

I was waiting for the perfect time to strike until it finally came. "Batter up." I said before I swung the lamp post around and it smacked into Thorn; sending him crashing into a building on the other side of the street. "He's out of there." I yelled as I tossed the lamp post away.

Thorn pushed himself off the wall and landed on his hooves on the ground with his head facing the ground. He then slowly lifted his head up and looked at me with hatred in his eyes. The then walked into the centre of the streets on bared his teeth.

We both glared at each other. "Why are you really fighting me Matthew?...for them?...they don't care about you. They left you here to die, to be killed by me. They've abandoned you." Thorn said darkly.

I stomped my hoof on the ground. "That's a lie, they love me. They're my friends, Twilight is my girlfriend and she loves me more than anypony." I protested.

Thorn laughed. "Hahaha, you little fool. She doesn't love you; she only said that so you wouldn't leave her. Ever since she learned what you truly were, she just wanted around so she could study you….like a rat. Hahaha." He chuckled evilly.

I then looked down at the ground. "All my life I wanted only one thing, to have true friends. Every time I made one, they always ended up moving away or leaving me for someone else. And then I came here…and I thought I found the perfect place where nopony would do that to me."

Thorn's smile grew. I then looked back up at Thorn. "And you know what?...I was right. Ever since I arrived here, I've made many friends and I know for certain that they'll never abandon me for nothing or nopony. I know that Twilight loves me, she doesn't care what I use to be and she never did. I know her better than anypony and she would never use me or anypony like that. She's not the liar Thorn, you are." I said in an angered tone.

Thorn's smiled turned into an angered growl. "You think you're so special, do you boy? You think just because you're an off-worlder and that you're the Element of Bravery, you think you can stand a chance against me and my power. Well…let me show you what true power is!"

Thorn's horn then glowed white and black flames shot out of it like a flamethrower. Thorn rotated his head around and the flames surrounded him until they created a tornado of black fire with him inside.

I tried to look through the flames but I could only see Thorn's silhouette inside. But something was happening, his figure started to grow and his body was shifting as if he was changing into something else. As he grew, so did the fire tornado until it was almost the size of a real one.

Suddenly, a pair of big white glowing eyes shot open inside the fire on looked down at me. The flames then cleared and the fire tornado died down, my eyes widened to see that Thorn had transformed himself into a black one-headed hydra (About the same size as a real on) with glowing white eyes and a white underbelly. "All this talk about friendship and love, it really does bring out the worst in me." Thorn said in a thundering voice before he let out a loud hiss.

My jaw dropped. "Oh….I didn't know you could do that." I said as I looked up at him. Thorn then shot his head down at me with his jaw open wide.

**Meanwhile: Castle lobby**

The shadow alicorns were tough, no matter how many strikes Twilight or any of the others threw at them they always ended up dodging or blocking them. And their punches were hard; Discord and Rainbow Dash had already been sent crashing against the wall after being hit by them.

Applejack pounced on one of the shadow alicorns from behind and wrapped her arms around its neck as it tried to throw her off. The shadow alicorn then managed to flip Applejack over its head and she hit her back against the ground in front of it.

The shadow alicorn then raised both its front hooves up above Applejack's head to stomp down on her. Applejack saw this and gasped before she rolled over to the side; causing the alicorn to miss and stomp his hooves on the ground.

Applejack then got back on her hooves and bared her teeth at the alicorn before she spun around and bucked it in the side with her hide-hooves. Once her hooves hit the alicorn, it disappeared in a cloud of black smoke and the smoke vanished in the air.

"Hey, it only takes one hit to beat'em." Applejack yelled out for everypony to hear.

Luna turned he head to look in Applejack's direction while a shadow alicorn was walking up to her. "That sounds easy, except they keep avoiding our attacks." She said before she turned her attention to the alicorn in front of her and threw her front hoof forward only for the alicorn to dodge it and pounce on top of Luna.

As Luna tried to push the shadow alicorn off her, Discord noticed her struggling and flew over to help her. Once he reached Luna, Discord swung his tail around and it wrapped around the alicorns neck. He then lifted it off Luna and slammed it against the floor; causing it to vanish in the air.

Discord held his talon hand down to Luna and she grabbed it with her front hoof. Discord then helped her back on her hooves and looked down at her. "Are you alright Luna?"

Luna looked up at him and nodded. "Yes, I'm fine." She said with a small smile.

"Err…guy's, little help!" a voice said from across the room. Discord and Luna looked in the direction the voice came from to see Spike being chased by the last shadow alicorn.

Spike was too busy looking back at the alicorn to watch where he was running and bumped into something which made him fall back on his butt. He looked up to see the Rover, Spot and Fido each hitting one fists against their other hand.

"You mess with the dragon, you mess with us smoky pony." Rover said while glaring at the alicorn behind Spike. The Diamond Dogs then charged towards the alicorn and once they reached it, Rover threw a punch forward only for the alicorn to dodge it and punch its hoof across Rover's face; causing him fall to the ground.

Fido then came up from behind the shadow alicorn and caught it in a head-lock, the alicorn tried to throw Fido off but he was too strong. The shadow alicorn then spread its wings out and started to flap them before it lifted off the floor with Fido on its back with his arm wrapped around its neck.

Then with one strong flap, the alicorn shot upwards and slammed Fido against the ceiling; causing him to lose his grip and fall off the alicorns back. Fido then fell to the floor with a hard thud and the alicorn lowered itself back down to the floor.

The shadow alicorn then looked down at a quivering Spot with a frightened look on his face in front of it. The alicorn then took one step forward. "I surrender, I surrender." Spot yelled in fright with his hands high in the air.

The alicorns horn glowed white and Spot tensed himself up for whatever was going to come out. At that moment, Celestia walked up from behind the shadow alicorn. "Excuse me!" she said in an angered tone as she tapped it on the shoulder.

The shadow alicorn turned its head around to face Celestia only to receive a hard punch across the face by her hoof; causing it to vanish in the air. Celestia then shook the slight pain off her hoof.

Discord then walked up beside her with a surprised look on his face. "Nice move Celestia."

Celestia turned her head to face him and smiled. "Thank you Discord. Usually, I abhor the use of physical violence. But for these things I had to make an acceptation."

Discord just gave her an understanding smile before Celestia looked down at Spot. She walked up to him and lowered her head down to his level. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Spot looked up at her with wide eye. "Y-You saved me, pony Princess. Why?" He asked as Rover and Fido walked up to his side and looked at Celestia.

Celestia gave him a small smile. "Because I'm the Princess, my duties rely on caring and protecting all creatures. You Diamond Dogs may not be ponies, but this is still your home and you deserve the same amount of respect."

The Diamond Dogs then smiled at her before all three of them bowed their heads to her. "Thank you, pony Princess." They all said.

Celestia smiled and raised her hoof. "Please, call me Princess Celestia!"

The Diamond Dogs looked up to her. "Yes…Princess Celestia." Rover said with a humble smile.

Discord then walked up beside Celestia and looked at The Diamond Dogs. "Did we do good, lord Discord?" Fido asked with a nervous smile.

"Yes, you did good….well; you tried your best at least. But now that those things are gone, can you continue bashing the doors open?" Discord asked as he pointed at the statue lying on the floor next to the door.

The Diamond Dogs looked at it before they looked back up at Discord and nodded. They all then walked ran up to the statue and picked it up again.

Twilight then stepped forward. "Maybe if we all do it together, then maybe we can hit it harder and have a better chance of knocking it down."

"That's good thinkin' there Twilight. Come on ya'all, let's help do this thing." Applejack said as she walked past Twilight and up to The Diamond Dogs holding up the statue. Once she reached them, she stood behind Rover (who was holding up the statue from the side) and stood up on her hide-legs and placed one of her front hooves under the statue and the other on top.

Twilight, the rest of the main 6, Celestia, Luna and Discord then did the same. Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Luna and Fido were holding the statue up on the left side. While Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Celestia, Discord and Rover were holding it up on the right. Fluttershy and Spot were holding it up from the back and Spike was holding it up from underneath.

Jeff and Peewee then landed on the statue as it was being held up by everypony. They then went back as far as they could while pointing the head of the statue at the door. Twilight looked at everypony. "Ready? 1, 2, 3."

They all the charged towards the door with the head of the statue sticking out in front of them. they then rammed it into the door and it worked, the doors cracked and swung wide open.

After see their success, Jeff and Peewee shared a high-wing. "Oh yeah, Thorn's got nothin' on us. Not him or his shadow duplicates, I was gonna throw down on those fools. Too bad there were only three of them right?" Jeff said.

"Emm…excuse me!" Fluttershy said quietly. Everypony then looked at her to see the frightened look on her and Spot's face.

"Fluttershy, what's wrong sweetie?" Rarity asked in a concerned tone. Fluttershy and Spot the pointed at the door way. Everypony then turned their head to looked out the door way and gasped loudly at the sight of a large number of shadow alicorns in the castle grounds.

Twilight and the others were wide-eyed with their mouths hung wide open. There was a moment silence. "Oh…he has way more." Jeff said breaking the silence.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot streets**

I was flying as fast as I could threw the streets while being chased by Thorn in his new hydra form. I made sharp turns around buildings only to have Thorn take a short cut by smashing his way through the corners of them.

When he got close, he stuck his neck out and snapped his jaws right behind me. I sometimes had to pull my hide-legs in to avoid them being bit off as I flew.

Suddenly, I saw a thin alley way between two buildings up ahead; I flapped my wings harder to pick up more speed. Thorn was closing in behind me with his mouth open wide until I flew into the alley and Thorn crashed into the buildings.

I looked back and laughed. "Haha, what's the matter Thorn? Too fat to fit through the-UMF." I didn't have time to finish my sentence as I smacked into a wall in the ally. I peeled myself off the wall and rubbed my head.

I opened my eyes to see I hit a dead-end in the alley. I turned around to see Thorn trying to force his head into the alley to reach me, the walls of the buildings crumbled as he pulled his head out and pushed it back in. then for some reason after a small number of tries, he pulled his head out and let out a loud roar before he walked away.

I took this time to take some deep breaths because it looked like he gave up. Suddenly, Thorn reappeared from out of nowhere and stuck his foot out into alley and it headed towards me. His leg was thinner so it could go in further.

Then his foot stopped right in front of me. I pushed myself back as far as I could against the wall as his claws tried to grab me; his claws were almost close enough to scratch against body.

The walls of the alley started to crumble again and Thorn's claw was getting closer to me. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be long until his sharp claws rip me apart until I heard something that sounded like a jet above me.

I looked up to see three lines of smoke in the sky, one of them had lightning in it. Whatever was making them then shot down towards me, I squinted my eyes to see it was three of the Wonderbolts. Once they flew down into the alley, two of them pulled up and flew strait towards Thorn.

Thorn saw this and ducked down before the two Wonderbolt's flew past over his head. Thorn turned his head around to see them fly upwards and let out loud roar. While he was distracted, Me and the other Wonderbolt (who I recognized to be Spitfire) then flew towards Thorn while his head was turned and flew past his head. He then noticed that I was flying away from him and he roared loudly again before he charged after us.

Me and Spitfire then took a sharp turn around another building before we noticed another alley. We then flew into it and held our backs against the wall so Thorn wouldn't see us if he went past. Thorn the came to the corner and looked around.

Thorn growled with a glare in his eyes. "Hide you little runt! I'll find you. Even if I have to tear this entire city apart." He yelled in a thundering voice before he walked around the corner and past the alley.

Me and Spitfire then exhaled before I tuned my head to face her. "Spitfire, you shouldn't be here. What are you doing?" I asked.

Spitfire turned her head to face me and lifted her goggles off her eyes. "Saving your skin, kid. We're gonna get you somewhere safe."

"It doesn't matter where you take me, he'll follow. He's after me; you all need to get out of here before you get hurt." I said with concern in my eyes.

Spitfire shook her head before she put her goggles back on. "No can do, kid. We have a job to do and if this creep's after you then you're in real danger."

I was about to say something before the other two Wonderbolts flew down into the alley and hovered in front of us. I looked at them to see that one of them was a male while the other was a female (I recognized them both as Soarin' and Fleetfoot). "Where's the hydra?" Spitfire asked.

Soarin' came closer to her. "We lost it, it just vanished." he answered.

Spitfire raised her eye brow. "It's a hydra, how could you have lost sight of a hydra? That thing was huge." She said.

"Well, we don't know. We can't find it anywhere." Soarin' argued.

Spitfire and Soarin' then broke out into an argument while me and Fleetfoot just watched; I turned my head to face Fleetfoot. "Are they always like this?" I asked with narrow eyes.

Fleetfoot turned her head to face me and nodded before we both looked back at the arguing pegasi. I then walked towards them. "Alright, that's enough." I said as I stepped between the two.

"How about this? We try and take this guy together." I suggested. Spitfire then rubbed her chin with her hoof while she looked down at the ground before she looked back up to me.

"Ok kid, you can help us. But watch your back! This things most likely to come after you." Spitfire said before she walked over to the alley entrance. "Believe me! I know." I said as I followed her.

Spitfire then stuck her head out the alley way before she looked left and right. She then looked back at us. "Ok, I don't see it. Let's go!" she said before we all walked out of the alley and around the corner. As we continued to walk, it was quiet. We looked in different directions for any sign of Thorn but we couldn't see him.

Spitfire then turned her head to look at me. "So…why's this thing after you? Did you steal its egg or something?" she asked with a smirk.

I turned my head to face her as we kept walking. "Oh...no. to tell the truth, this thing isn't a hydra."

Spitfire raised her eye brow at me. "Ok I admit I haven't seen one like this before, but I think I know a hydra when I see one."

"Oh, he's a hydra _now_. But he's really a black alicorn who turned _into_ a hydra. He's kinda mad at me for something that happened a while back." I said to her.

"He holds a grudge huh? Well, stick with us kid and we'll have your back." Spitfire said in a confident tone.

Fleetfoot then walked up between us. "Yeah, if we ever find this guy. Otherwise we'll just have to accept that he's long go-" she didn't have time to finish her sentence as we heard a loud crumbling sound behind us.

We turned around to see Thorn smashing his way through one of the buildings on the right side of the street. He then noticed us and growled. "There you are." He said darkly before he charged towards us.

Spitfire then looked at Soarin' and Fleetfoot. "Wonderbolts, let's do this!" she said before they all shot off in the air and headed toward Thorn.

Thorn saw this and grinned evilly before he opened his mouth wide and black fire came shooting out of it. Spitfire gasped in shock. "Spit up!" she yelled before they all went in different directions and the fire hit the ground.

"Oh come on! Hydra's can't breathe fire." I yelled in annoyance.

Spitfire and the others were now flying all around Thorn like a swarm of flies. Thorn tied to smack them away with his claw but he missed every time and he was getting annoyed about it. "I've had just about enough of this nonsense." He growled before he stared breathing black fire at them.

Spitfire and the others then flew up high in the sky above Thorn before they shot down towards him in a small V shape. Thorn then glared his eyes at them and got in a position to strike.

Once the Wonderbolts got close enough, Thorn swung his long tail up and the tip wrapped around the Wonderbolts; holding them in a tight grip. Thorn then brought them closer to his face and he let out a loud hiss in their faces as the grip in his tail got tighter.

I saw this and glared up at Thorn before I created a green shield disc in my front hooves. "Hey Thorn." I yelled before threw the disc up towards Thorn's head.

The disc then smashed against his cheek and he slowly looked down at me. "You want me? Come get me, you son of a bitch." I yelled up to him.

Thorn then growled before he used his tail to toss the Wonderbolts aside; causing them to crash against a wall of a building and fall to the ground; knocking them all unconscious. Thorn then stomped his way towards me.

I felt the ground shake with each step he took. I turned around and tried to fly away but as I started to fly, Thorn grabbed me in his claws and brought me up to his face before he laughed. "Hahaha, you little fool. What did you possibly hope to achieve this night? Did you really believe you could beat the most powerful pony in all of Equestria?" He said in a thundering voice as his grip on me got tighter.

I tried to get loose but he had a really tight grip, I couldn't push myself out or move my legs. "You know boy, it didn't have to be this way. You should've left Ponyville when I gave you the chance, but you came back and humiliated me. It's because of you this has happened, the death of Luna's guards and their captain, Luna's kidnapping and suffering, the destruction of Canterlot, all of it. Everything that's happened tonight is because of you; it's all…your…FAULT. If you hadn't interfered with my plans in the first place, maybe none of this would have happened." Thorn said in a dark voice.

I thought about it and in a way…he was kinda right. He was doing this for revenge against me because of what happened a few weeks ago. But then I thought about what would have happened if I didn't stop him back then, Celestia would probably be gone and he would be on the throne with everypony in Ponyville under his control. I then looked into Thorn's giant glowing white eyes.

"You may be right Thorn, but there's one thing I do know. On the night I stopped you, I made a promise. I said I would protect my home and my friends from ponies like you And I'm not going to go back on that promise now." I said in a determined voice before I created a shield disc in my front hooves and slammed the edge down against Thorn's finger only for it to have no effect.

I did it a number of times and it didn't make a single scratch. Thorn laughed in amusement at my failed attempts to get him to loosen his grip on me. Suddenly, I noticed something glowing under my chin and I looked down to see the green crystal on my Element was glowing.

I then noticed that the shield disc in my hoof was glowing as well before small blades appeared around the disc, it then spun around quickly on my hoof until it was like a buzz-saw. I looked at Thorn's finger before I looked back at the green saw-like disc. "Oh, this is gonna get messy." I thought before I lifted the saw as high as I could and slammed it down on Thorn's finger; causing it to cut deep into the side of his finger.

Thorn went wide-eyed and roared in pain as he released me from his grip and I fell to the ground. Before I could hit the ground, I caught the wind in my wings and landed softly on my hooves. I looked up at Thorn to see he had his claw clenched in pain.

He then opened his claw to see a large split in the side of his finger and blood running down from it. He then looked down at me and growled in anger. "You miserable little runt, I'll make you suffer for that." He roared before he breathed black fire down at me.

I closed my eyes and covered my face with my wing as the fire got closed. Suddenly, the green crystal on my Element glowed and a green force-field formed around me. The black fire slammed on top of the force-field but it didn't break it. I opened my eyes to see I was safe as the fire was covering the entire outside of the force-field.

The fire then stopped and Thorn growled in frustration when he saw that I was protected. The force-field disappeared; leaving me standing in the middle of a round clear patch on the ground while all around it was soot covered ground.

Thorn the hissed as he shot his head down towards me with his mouth wide open. I then got ready to jump out the way before and when the time was right, I jumped backwards; causing Thorn to smash his head against the ground and I flew up the back of his neck.

He turned his head around and hissed as I flew above his back. Suddenly as I flew pasted his tail, it flung up and the tip wrapped around my leg before it slammed me to the ground. It then pulled me up and threw me high into the air. As I fell back down, I looked down to see Thorn's wide mouth beneath me.

I yelled in terror as I fell into his mouth and his jaws snapped shut. His tongue was trying to force me down his throat until I saw his uvula. A devious smile then came on my face before I let the tongue push me back and I grabbed onto the uvula.

Thorn then started choking violently as I hit his uvula with my hoof. His mouth opened wide as he choked harder. Then with one strong choke, I was forced off Thorn's uvula and shot out of his mouth. I then slashed against the ground in a ball of saliva.

I leaned up in the large puddle of saliva and lifted my arms up to see strings of Thorn's saliva dripping from them. "Ew…that ain't right." I said in disgust before I stood up and shook it all off.

I then looked up at Thorn to see he was rubbing his throat with his claws with his eyes shut tight. His eyes then shot open and looked down at me in anger before he began to walk towards me. As he did, I started to back away. "I can't keep this up, he's too big. There has to be some way of slowing him down." I thought.

Suddenly, I heard a loud lighting strike behind me. I turned my head around and looked up to the sky to see lightning was shooting from the dark swirling clouds above the castle and striking the metal pole on the tip of the highest tower on the castle. At that moment, I plan formed in my head.

I turned my head back around to face Thorn and flew up into the air. "Come on Thorn! Are you too slow that you can't catch a runt like me?" I yelled to him before I flew off towards the castle. Thorn then roared before he charged after me.

**Meanwhile: Castle grounds**

It was a struggling battle, no matter how many shadow alicorns Twilight and the others beat, more would just appear. Due to them being outside the castle, Twilight, Celestia and Discord could now use their magic.

Twilight was shooting purple beams out her horn while stand next to Luna who was bucking her hind-legs at any shadow alicorn that came close.

Meanwhile, Celestia and Discord were sanding back-to-back. Celestia was shooting yellow beams from her horn while Discord was shooting yellow lighting from his hands.

Meanwhile, Applejack and Rarity were bucking their hind-legs at any shadow alicorn that came up to them. Fluttershy was curled up behind them with her hooves over her eyes while quivering.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was hopping from one shadow alicorn to the next. Every time she hopped off one, Rainbow Dash shot right through it in the air with great speed; causing each shadow alicorn to vanish in the air.

Meanwhile, the Diamond Dogs were punching any shadow alicorn that came close. Spike was standing next to them while breathing his green fire at the shadow alicorns.

Jeff and Peewee were diving down from the sky towards the alicorns and when they got close, they would pull up and shoot themselves through a small number of alicorns; causing them to vanish in the air.

While Spike was breathing his fire at some incoming shadow alicorns, one came up behind him and it lifted its front hooves up above Spike. Fido noticed this and ran up behind the alicorn before he threw his fist against the back of its head; causing it to vanish in the air. Spike turned around to see the black smoke clear and Fido looking down at him.

Spike smiled up to him. "Thanks." He said. Fido smiled down at him before he picked Spike up and placed him on his shoulders. "Don't mention is, little dragon!" he said before he went back to punching the alicorns while Spike breathed fire at them.

Celestia and Discord were still shooting beams and bolts of lightning at the alicorns as they got closer to the two. Suddenly, one of the alicorns appeared out of the ground in front of Celestia and tried to push her down to the ground but she fought back.

Discord didn't notice this as he was too busy fighting off other shadow alicorns. Suddenly, he noticed one of the shadow alicorns preparing to fire a bolt of black lightning from his horn. But it wasn't pointing at him, it was pointing at Celestia while she was pushing back on the alicorn.

Discord snapped his fingers and he disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared beside Celestia. He then wrapped his arms around her before he snapped his fingers again and in a flash of light, they both disappeared just as the other alicorn shot the bolt out of its horn. It then struck against alicorn that tried to push Celestia down and vanished in the air.

Celestia and Discord then reappeared on the other side of the castle grounds and Discord gave Celestia a concerned look. "Are you alright? Did it hurt you?" he asked.

Celestia then gave him a warm smile. "No, I'm fine." Discord then smiled warmly back at her before they both turned their attention back at the shadow alicorns and resumed shooting their beams and lightning bolts at them.

As Applejack and Rarity bucked away at the alicorns, Fluttershy uncovered her eyes and got up off the ground before she tried to gallop away. She then stopped once she saw a number of shadow alicorns in front of her.

Fluttershy backed away slowly with a frightened look on her face as the shadow alicorns slowly approached her. Suddenly, Fluttershy looked past the alicorns in front of her to see a number of alicorns surrounding Jeff and Peewee.

At that moment, Fluttershy glared at the alicorns before she charged towards them, she then rammed her way through them until she reached the two helpless birds and used her hind-legs to buck every shadow alicorn around them; causing them all to vanish in the air.

The black fog cleared and Fluttershy was breathing heavily with an angered look on her face. "Nopony hurts these poor innocent birds, Nopony." She stated loudly.

Fluttershy's face then turned from an angered one to a dazed one and she placed her hoof on her head. "Oooh…what just happened? I blacked out for a minute there." She said in her quiet voice before she looked down at Jeff and Peewee who were staring at her with wide eyes and their beaks hanging.

"What?" Fluttershy asked curiously. "Nothin'." Jeff and Peewee answered at the same time.

Meanwhile, Applejack and Rarity were still fighting off the shadow alicorns until two of them tackled down Applejack from behind; Rarity noticed that she Applejack was struggling to get them off so she galloped over to her. But before Rarity could reach her, another shadow alicorn tackled her to the ground and tried to force its front hooves down on her while she was trying keep them from stomping down on her face.

Spike was fighting off some shadow alicorns while standing on Fido's back until he heard Rarity struggling. He turned around and saw her lying on her back on the ground with a shadow alicorn on top of her trying to force its hooves past hers. "Hey." He yelled before he jumped of Fido's back and ran towards her.

Once he reached them, he glared at the shadow alicorn before he tapped one of its hind-legs with his finger. The shadow alicorn turned its head around and looked down at the small dragon glaring at it. "Get your filthy foggy hooves off her!" Spike growled before he took a deep breath and released a large amount of green fire at the shadow alicorn; causing it to vanish in the air.

Rarity then got back onto her hooves and walked up to Spike. "Thanks Spike." She said with a thankful smile.

Spike smiled back. "No problem. Come on! Let's beat these guys." He said in a confident voice before Rarity's horn glowed blue. Spike was then levitated off the ground and placed on her back. They smiled at each other before Rarity galloped away to continue fighting with Spike on her back.

After a short while, there was now a large number of shadow alicorns and everypony was finding it difficult to fight them off. Twilight, Celestia, Luna and Discord were surrounded while the others were becoming out numbered. Celestia saw how everypony was struggling and she stepped forward with an angered look on her face. "I've had just about enough of this." She said before her horn glowed brightly yellow.

Celestia's horn then started to glowed brighter causing Twilight, Luna and Discord to shield their eyes with their arms. Suddenly, a large explosion of light burst from her horn and covered the entire castle grounds in light.

The light then faded and Twilight, Luna and Discord removed their arms from their eyes to see that all the shadow alicorns were gone and everypony was looking around with confused faces. Applejack got up back on her hooves and looked at Celestia. "Whow, that was some mighty quick thinkin' there, Princess." She said with a smile.

The Diamond Dogs looked around at the clear castle grounds. "Ooh, pretty light make black ponies go away." Spot said in amazement.

Twilight then noticed Celestia standing still with her body tensed. She walked up beside her. "Princess? Are you ok?"

Celestia didn't look down at her; she just continued to look forward as Discord and Luna walked up behind her. "Yes….I'm just a little…" Celestia couldn't finish her sentence as she stumbled slightly.

Discord caught her in his arms and gave her a concerned look. Everypony noticed this and galloped up to them "Sorry…using that amount of magic…really takes it out of me." Celestia said weakly.

Discord gave her a warm smile. "You did a really good job, Celestia. I'm proud of you." he said sweetly. Celestia then smiled warmly up at him before she got up out of Discord's arms and tried to get her balance back.

Rainbow Dash then leaped forward with a large smile on her face. "That was awesome. You, Discord and Luna with your magic, Spike with his fire breath, me with my awesome flying and did you see Fluttershy when she was protecting Jeff and Peewee? We totally threw down." She said in an excited voice.

Pinkie Pie then hopped up in front of her with a smile. "Yeah we threw down." She said before she and Rainbow Dash shared a high-hoof.

Twilight then gasped once she remembered that they could use their magic now. She then turned her head to face Celestia. "Princess, we can use our magic. Now we can teleport ourselves back to the throne room and help Matt."

Rarity then walked up to her. "I don't think that'll be necessary anymore, Twilight." She said.

Twilight raised her eye brow. "How come?" she asked curiously.

"Because he's right over there." Rarity said as she pointed towards the castle's main gates. Everypony looked at the gate way to see me flying towards them through the streets.

I flew towards the castle while flapping my wings as hard as I could to gain more speed. Once I flew past the gateway, I landed in front of everypony. "Hey….how you all doin'?" I said as I panted.

Twilight then walked up to me and gasped once she saw all the cuts, bruises and black eye. "Matt…what happened to you?" she asked in shock as she gently stroked my wounds.

I then gave her a concerned look. "Twilight, you all have to get out of the castle grounds quickly."

Luna raised her eye brow. "Why? What's wrong?" she asked.

"THAT." I yelled as I pointed back towards the streets. Twilight and the others looked into the streets to see Thorn charging towards the castle.

"Is that a Hydra? But what happened to Thorn?" Twilight asked me with wide eyes.

I turned my head to face her. "Yeah…funny thing about that. Thorn _is_ the Hydra." I answered. "WHAT?" Twilight yelled in shock.

Thorn then smashed his way through the gateway and he let out a loud hiss as he raised his head up high. "Aw, look at that! They're all here together as one. Good, now I can kill you all at the same time and spare me the trouble of coming after you all." He said in a thundering voice.

I then leaned my head closer to Twilight. "Twi, I've got a plan. It's risky but I have to try." I whispered to her without taking my eyes off Thorn.

"What kind of plan?" she whispered back.

"Just be sure to clear the castle grounds before the lightning strikes the tower." I whispered. "Huh?" Twilight said with a confused look on her face.

I didn't answer; instead I flew up along the wall of the castle until I was up higher than Thorn could stretch his neck. "Hey, dick neck." I yelled before I created a green shield disc in my front hooves and threw it down towards Thorn. Thorn looked up only to have the disc smash against his face. However his head was too big to feel any real pain from it.

"Why don't you come and get me if you want me so bad? Unless you're afraid of heights." I yelled down to him before I continued to fly up the castle.

Thorn hissed. "Oh so you want to take this to new heights, do you boy? Very well, I'll play your little game." He said before he walked over to the castle. Twilight and the others cleared the way as Thorn stomped past them and stopped in front of the castle walks.

Thorn then lifted his leg before pressed his foot against the wall and dug his sharp claws into it. He then used his jaw to grab a higher part of the castle so he could lift his other foot up and attach it to the wall. He continued to do this until he was able to climb the rest of the way without the use of his jaw.

Twilight and the others watch me fly up the castle while being chased by Thorn with worried looks on their faces.

As I flew higher up, I looked back to see Thorn was right behind me climbing the castle as fast as he could. Seeing how he only had two legs in his Hydra form, it wasn't very fast but he was still coming. Sometimes part of the ledges crumbled under his foot as he took a step closer and he'd have to hook his foot on to another part of the ledge before he continued to climb after me.

I finally reached the tip of the highest tower on the castle and hovered in mid-air as I looked at the metal pole which was much bigger up close. The wind blew strongly in my face as the dark clouds swirled around above me and I heard them thunder, I looked down the tower to see Thorn starting to climb it. He must have been heavy for the tower to hold because there was a loud cracking sound as he climbed up. The crack went around the tower so it looked like the top half would fall off at any moment.

I looked back up at the clouds. "Come on! COME ON!" I yelled before I looked back down to see Thorn was gone. I turned my head in different directions to catch any sight of him but I couldn't see him anywhere. Suddenly, Thorn's giant tail quickly wrapped around me from behind and it turned me around to see Thorn hiss loudly right in my face.

He climbed to the tip and grabbed the metal pole with one of his feet while the other one was attached onto the lower wall of the tower. His tail grip on me got tighter as Thorn held me up to his face and laughed.

"Hahaha, poor little Matthew. Come so far just to die here." she said darkly. I looked up into the clouds to see lights begin to flash in the clouds.

"You never stood a chance against me, boy. I'm more powerful than Celestia, I'm more powerful than Luna and I'm more powerful than you. You're just a boy living in a world where he doesn't belong. You're weak and useless, I am strong and powerful….so tell me runt!...how are you going to beat me this time?" Thorn asked with an evil smile.

As his grip got tighter, I looked back up at the clouds and saw lightning forming in the centre. I then looked back at Thorn and gave him a devious smile. "I may already have." I said before I created a shield disc in my front hooves and threw it towards Thorn's face. The disc then smash in Thorn's left eye and he closed it as he let out a small yell in pain.

This caused him to loosen his grip on me and I was able to push myself out and fly to a safe distance away from Thorn. Once I did, I turned around and hovered in mid-air before I looked up to the dark clouds. Suddenly, a large bolt of lightning shot down from the clouds and struck the metal pole. The lightning spread down the pole and up Thorn's leg until his entire body was cover in electricity. Thorn yelled loudly in pain as he was powerfully shocked until the metal pole broke off the tip of the tower and the lightning stopped.

Once he stopped feeling the pain of the shock, he looked in his claw to see the broken metal pole before he started to lose his grip on the tower with his other claw. I flew up to his face. "See ya, you overgrown bastard." I said before Thorn finally lost his grip and fell back off the tower. He yelled in terror as he fell.

In the castle grounds, Twilight and the others gasped as they saw Thorn falling down towards them. Celestia then closed her eyes and her horn glowed yellow before she, Twilight and the others disappeared in a flash of light. Once they were gone, Thorn hit the ground with a large crash.

I looked down at the castle grounds to see his unconscious body lying on the smashed ground. Suddenly, I heard a loud cracking sound behind me and I turned around to see the top half of the tower broke and started to tip over. "Holy SHIT." I yelled before I flew out of the way. The top half of the tower then tipped over and fell down past me. I watched as it fell.

Thorn then slowly opened his eyes before they shot open and he yelled in fright at the sight of the tower half fall down towards him. Before he could have the chance to get up, the tower half crash on top of him; burying him in rubble.

I then flew back down to the ground and landed in front of the giant pile of rubble. After a few seconds of waiting, nothing happened and I took a single deep breath as I thought it was over. Suddenly, I heard a rumbling sound and a few rocks in the rubble pile before it burst in front of me; knocking me down on my back.

As I tried to get up, I felt something push me back down and I opened my eyes to see Thorn back in his alicorn form with one of his front hooves on top of my chest. He grunted in anger with his teeth baring, the black and white flames in his fiery mane were large like wild fire and he had some more bruises on his body.

"I'll admit Matthew, you had me pretty fooled leading me up there into that little trap of yours. Very clever, I like that in a miserable little colt like you." Thorn said as he placed his other hoof on my throat and pushed down on it. "But your luck is about to run out, boy. I still control the night, the power is mine, the castle is mine, this entire city is mine. I am the alicorn of darkness, I am king, do you hear me? KING." He yelled as he pushed down harder.

It got harder to breathe before I glared up at Thorn. "Yeah…a false king." I said before threw one of my front hooves up and it punched Thorn in his snout; causing him to stumble slightly and raise his hoof off my throat. I then pushed his other hoof off my chest and rolled over back on my hooves before I took off into the sky.

Thorn saw this and growled before he took off after me. I flapped my wings as hard and fast as I could until I was high in the sky above Canterlot. I looked back to see Thorn was still after me but he was further down. I then stopped and hovered in mid-air getting ready to face him.

Thorn noticed this and stopped where he was. Even though we were a long distance away, we still glared at each other. "The game ends here, Matthew." Thorn yelled up to me before raised his wings before made one hard flap and shot up towards me. I then made one hard flap before I dove down towards him.

As we got closer, my eye watered with the wind pushing against my face. I stuck my front hooves out in front of me as I got dove faster. Suddenly, I felt as though I was breaking through the wind and I felt like I was going to explode in the speed. "Little runt." Thorn growled to himself.

"Bastard." I said to myself before I was diving down faster than ever before. I then heard a loud humming sound and before I knew it, BOOM. I shot down like a bullet which created a green sonic wave that spread out across the sky, I looked behind me to see I was leaving a green trail behind me. I then turned my attention back to Thorn and I closed my eyes with my front hooves still sticking out in front of me.

Thorn came to a sudden stop and his eyes widened as I shot down towards him.

"Oh no." Thorn said to himself before I rammed right into his chest and we both shot down back towards Canterlot while still leaving a green trail behind me. After a fast fall, we both crashed landed like a comet in the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens.

I slowly opened my eyes and stood up slowly from the small crater that I was in, my legs were shaking from the intense speed I just experienced. I tried to spread out my wings but I felt a shooting pain in my left one. I looked at it to see it was bent slightly, I then realized it was broken.

I suddenly heard the sound of racks moving and I looked forward to see Thorn raised up from another small crater while small rocks rolled off his back. "You….will not…win…boy….I won't allow it." He said in an angered tone as he stumbled out of the crater. He then heard a cracking sound and he looked down at the purple crystal on his silver metal necklace and it fell apart to the ground.

"No…my power…my power." Thorn said in despair as he tried to gather all the pieces of the broke crystal as they started to glow black. He then realized it was useless before he gave me a hatful look with his eyes burning with rage. He then yelled in anger as he galloped towards me before he pounced.

**Meanwhile: Castle grounds**

Twilight and the others returned to the castle grounds to see the giant pile of rubble. "Where are they?" Spike asked.

"I don't know Spike, we didn't see." Twilight answered as she looked around for any sign of me.

Celestia looked around in devastation at the sight of her half destroyed city before she hung her head. She then felt a hand touch her shoulder and she looked up to see Discord with a concerned look on his face. Celestia then buried her head into his chest before Discord wrapped his arms around her to comfort her.

Twilight noticed this and was about to go over to them until she noticed something about Luna. "Princess Luna…you're…glowing."

Celestia then pulled her head out of Discord's chest and looked at Luna to see she was glowing dark blue. "Sister…what's…what's happening to me?" Luna asked curiously.

Everypony then walked up to Luna as they wondered what was happening. "He did it, he smashed the crystal. This must be your magic returning to you." Celestia said.

Twilight smiled. "That means you can lower than moon so Princess Celestia can raise the sun."

Celestia nodded. "Yes Twilight. Come sister! We must hurry. Everypony stand back." She said before Twilight and the others took a few steps back.

Celestia and Luna then walked up to each other and closed their eyes before they flapped their wings and lifted off the ground. They then stopped in mid-air and connected the tips of their horns together before they started to glow. Celestia and Luna then opened their eyes to reveal they were glowing white. The two Princesses then started to glow brightly which caused Twilight and the others to shield their eyes.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot Sculpture Gardens**

I grunted loudly as Thorn threw me against one of the statues in the garden. Thorn slowly approached me with a sharp killing glare in his eyes. As I tried to stand back up, his horn glowed white and I felt a sharp stinging pain in my head; caused me to drop to the ground. Suddenly, black chains burst out of both sides of the statue and wrapped themselves around me before they pulled me up against the statue.

Thorn then smiled evilly as he came closer. A black chain then slivered down the statue and wrapped itself around my snout before I pull it up; forcing my head to face upwards. I then noticed the night sky was lighting up and then I saw the sun rise beyond in the horizon.

Once he reached me, Thorn pointed the sharp tip of his horn at my neck and slowly moved it closer. Thorn chuckled darkly with a demented look in his eyes as he moved his horn closer to my throat. He was too caught up in his demented state to notice the land becoming brighter or the fact that his body was smoking while making a sizzling sound.

"Any last words?...runt." Thorn asked with the tip of his horn touching my throat. I looked up at the sky to see the sun was now high up in the sky before I gave Thorn a smirk. "Yeah…good morning." I said.

"Huh?" Thorn said with a confused look on his face. The confusion caused him to snap out of his demented state and notice the bright lands around him. He then turned around and looked at the sky to see the sun and after a few seconds, he let out a few painful grunts as he became weaker. As he did, the black chains around me turned into black smoke and I fell down from the statue and landed on my hooves. I then looked up at the top of the castle to see the black clouds disappear.

Thorn tried to make his horn glow but at this point, he was too weak and he stumbled slightly. He then turned back around only to receive a hard punch across the face by my hoof. "That was for Luna's guards and Midnight." I said while glaring at him.

Thorn rubbed his face with his hoof before he looked at me. "What…do you hope…to accomplish here?...what do you…hope to prove anyway?" he said between grunts.

"Is that what you think this is about Thorn? To prove you're wrong about me? Well I have news for you, you are wrong. Because I'm not doing this to prove anything, I'm doing this because it's right." I said before he tried to punch me with his hoof only to miss and receive another punch in the face. "That was for Luna."

At this point, Thorn was now kneeling on the ground panting as more smoke escaped from his body. I then grabbed him by the horn and forced him to look up at me. "And this…is because I just don't like you." I said before I spun around and bucked him in the face with my hind-legs; causing him to fall backwards and land on his back. I looked at him to see he wasn't moving.

I breathed heavily as I started to walk away. Suddenly, I heard a loud yell behind me and I spun around to see Thorn throwing his hoof towards me. By his surprised, I grabbed his hoof in mine and glared at him. "Y-You…can't defeat me…you're nothing but a pathetic human." Thorn said weakly.

"…not anymore." I said before the green crystal on my Element started to glow and I lifted off the ground without the use of my wings. I closed my eyes as I floated in front of Thorn with his hoof still in my grasp, there was a small humming sound coming from the green crystal before the humming got louder. My eyes then shot open revealing them to be glowing white before a large green beam shot out from the crystal on my Element and struck right into Thorn; causing him to shoot across the gardens as he yelled in terror.

The beam continued to shoot out of my Element as it pushed Thorn further away. He was now heading towards a statue of a pony with a stone spear in it hooves.

The beam then stopped but Thorn kept going until the stone spear stabbed into his back and out through his armoured chest. Thorn let out a loud grunt before he gasped in horror and pain. He tried to pull himself off the spear but he couldn't.

I was wide-eyed as I saw him in this state. Blood started to drip from his mouth and run from his wound until it was dripping from his leg. Thorn looked at me with wide-eyes as he let out a few small gasps before his eyes closed and his head and limbs hung as he died on the spear. Suddenly, Thorn's flesh started to dissolve like acid until he was nothing but bones.

Thorn's bones then fell off the spear as they turned to dust and blew away in the wind. All that was left of him was his metal armoured vest and metal greaves lying on the ground in front of the statue.

I was stunned by what I just saw until I felt light headed from exhaustion. I then lost all feeling in my body and I collapsed to the ground as I became unconscious. Meanwhile, the last three silhouetted alicorns watch everything from the roofs of the castle.

They stood there for a second before two of them disappeared in bolts of dark purple and red fire. The last one growled with its teeth bared before it disappeared in a bolt of green fire.

**2 days later: Ponyville hospital**

I opened my eyes to the sound of a loud beeping noise and I rubbed my head as I leaned up slightly. I looked around to see I was in a bed in what looked like a medical room. I then saw that the loud beeping was a heat meter wired up to me. I then heard the door open and I looked to see a doctor pony walk in.

"Oh good, you're awake Mr…Matthew, is it?" The doctor asked as he held his clipboard up to his face with his magic. "Yeah…that's me, ahh." I said as I tried to lean up more.

The doctor then placed his hoof on me and gently placed me back down on the bed. "Slow down, Matthew! You're still in quite a bad state." He said.

I then looked around my body to see I had bandages in some places like my broken wing. "I don't know what exactly happened up there in Canterlot, but whatever it was it must have been bad." The doctor said as he adjusted his glasses with his hoof.

"Worse." I said as I rubbed my head again. "Yes. In fact, a young pony named Twilight Sparkle has been very worried about you. She's spent every night here since you arrived and she said she wouldn't leave until she knew you were ok." The doctor said.

I was touched that Twilight would actually do something like that. "Really? Is she here?" I asked.

"Yes. She, some others and surprising enough, Princess Celestia and Luna are here too. Would you like me to send them in?" the doctor asked with a small smile.

I smiled back. "Yes, thank you." I said kindly before he left the room. After a few minutes, Twilight, the rest of the main 6, Celestia, Luna, Discord, Spike, Jeff and Peewee and the Diamond Dogs all came in to the room.

Twilight walked up beside the bed and I was confused by the angry look she was giving me. "What?" I asked.

"That was a really stupid thing you did up there Matt, you could've died. You had me worried sick." Twilight said in an angered voice.

"Sorry Twilight, it seemed like the best thing to do at the time. I couldn't think of another way." I said with a nervous look.

Twilight then let out a small sigh before she gently wrapped her arms around my neck until we were sharing a small hug. "The guards found you in the Sculpture Gardens. When they brought you back, I thought you were dead…. While I was staying here…I had a nightmare. That your heart meter went flat and…" she couldn't finish her sentence as she started to softly cry in my shoulder.

I ignored the pain as I hugged her tighter. "It's ok Twi…shhh…its ok, I'm here…the nightmare's over." I said softly.

"But what about Thorn?" Luna asked curiously.

Me and Twilight broke the hug and my ears lowered. "He's…I think he's…"

"Dead." Celestia said cutting me off. Everypony looked at her in shock. "Thorn's dead. We don't have to worry about him anymore." She finished.

"Princess…I…I didn't mean to…I mean, I didn't know that statue was-" I couldn't finish my sentence as Celestia cutted in.

"It's alright Matthew; I know it was an accident. But to be honest, I didn't see any other way to beat him." Celestia said in an honest voice.

"But what about Canterlot? Your castle?" I said in a concerned voice.

Celestia raised her hoof. "All taken care of, the castle returned to normal and its being repaired along with all of Canterlot. Everything is back to the way it was before." She said with a smile. I smiled back.

We then heard the door open again and we all looked to see Spitfire, Soarin' and Fleet Foot. Rainbow Dash gasped in excitement. "Hey kid, you're looking good. Well…not good but better." Spitfire said.

I smiled at her. "Thanks, are you guys ok?" I asked.

"Yeah, we're fine. Just a few bruises but nothing we can't take. Anyway after that guy took us out, we woke up just in time to see you pull off that cool Sonic Rainboom." Spitfire said.

Rainbow Dash looked at me in amazement. "You did a Sonic Rainboom?"

"He sure did, and we were just wondering if you'd like to hang with us some time." Spitfire said.

I was slightly shocked by this offer. I looked at Rainbow Dash to see her nodding her head fast before I looked back at Spitfire. "Can I bring a friend?" I asked. Rainbow Dash's jaw then dropped in surprise.

"Sure." Spitfire answered. "Then I'm there and so is Rainbow Dash." I said.

Rainbow Dash then shot up to the bed and hugged me tightly. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you." she said repeatedly in excitement.

"OW, OW, OW." I yelled in pain by her hug. She then let me go and gave me a sheepish smile. "Sorry." She said.

At that moment, the doctor pony came back into the room with a nurse pony. "Alright everypony, Matthew needs to get his sleep now. Nurse, please give the patient his sleeping pills!"

The nurse then nodded before she used her magic to hover two small pills and a glass of water in front of me. I opened my mouth so the pill would go in and then I grabbed the glass in my hooves and drunk the water with the pill going down with it. The doctor and nurse then left the room.

"Come on ya'all! Let's let the poor guy rest!" Applejack said before she, the rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff, Peewee and the Wonderbolts left the room.

"Get well soon Matt." Rarity said as she left.

The Diamond Dogs then started to follow them. Rover then turned around to me. "By the way, Lord Discord saw us put in a lot of strong effort in fighting those shadow ponies and he says we can become his personal assistants in the castle, that's better than any amount of gems."

"That's good, but doesn't that mean you'll have to stay in Canterlot?" I asked.

Rover, Spot and Fido's smiles then faded. "Oh horse feathers." Spot exclaimed to himself as he, Rover and Fido left the room.

"Don't worry Matthew! You'll be back on your hooves in no time." Celestia said before she turned and walked out the door. "And don't worry about Canterlot Matthew! We'll take care of it; you just worry about getting better." Discord said before he followed Celestia.

I then turned my head to face Twilight as I started to feel the pills effects. She gave me a small kiss on the lips. "I'll be back tomorrow to check on you, ok?" she said with a sweet smile.

I nodded slowly before I closed my eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep. "Sleep well Matt! I love you." Twilight said quietly before she and Luna walked out of the room and Twilight used her magic to shut the door behind them.

After a minute, Luna poked her head through the door and quietly walked up to the bed. She smiled warmly down at me as I slept. "You came when I needed help the most, you brought my magic back to me and you saved Canterlot from a terrible fate." She said quietly.

Luna then looked back at the door to check if anypony was there. Once she was sure there wasn't, she looked back down at me and planted a small kiss on my cheek.

"You're my hero, Matthew." Luna whispered before she walked towards the door. Once she walked through doorway, she used her magic to shut the door behind her; leaving me to sleep in peace.

**Meanwhile: Far away dark mountains**

One of the silhouetted alicorns sat on his throne while the other two stood in front of the thrones looking up at him. "Thorn's death was….unfortunate…but we must move on. Our brother would not want us to waste our time grieving over him while we could be doing so much more…Like planning a way to deal with the one responsible for his demise." The alicorn on the throne said in a dark voice.

"Yes brother." The two other alicorns said at the same time.

"Good, now go. I have an important matter to attend to." The dark voice said before the other two alicorns bowed and walked out of the throne room.

The alicorn on the throne then got up and walked towards the throne at the end of the row. The throne which was completely black.

"Your death may have been unexpected, Thorn. But that doesn't mean it wasn't caused by your own foolishness." The alicorn said before his horn glowed green and a green lightning bolt shot out and struck Thorn's throne; causing it to fall to pieces.

The alicorn the walked down from the thrones and up to the large green pool. He looked into the water and saw me sleeping in the hospital bed.

"We will not be bested by somepony like you…you have made yourself a very powerful enemy, young Matthew." The alicorn growled before he raised his front hooves up and slammed them down in the water; creating a loud splash and destroying the vision of me in the water.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter and I hope there was enough action for you.**

**To those who are confused about Thorn's Hydra form, in the show Hydra's have no arms. Just two legs. This would explain why he was grabbing things with his feet.**

**I'm going to take a small break from wrighting but don't worry! This story will continue. **

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up next month.**


	26. Chapter 26: Unsure hero

**Hey everypony, I'm back.**

**I'm sorry that the last chapter was a long read, it was an important part of the story you see and I wanted it to have enough perfect detail.**

Chapter 26: Unsure hero

It's been 4 days since I came out of the hospital and the word of my victory over Thorn has spread around.

I've been getting a huge reputation in Ponyville. Everypony in town thinks I'm some sort of hero and they praise me like one, even some of the high-class ponies in Canterlot like me….SOME of them.

Princess Celestia has already sent me and Twilight a letter saying that Canterlot has been fully repaired along with her castle (thanks to their skills in magic) and everything looks exactly how it all did before.

**Ponyville streets**

I was walking through the streets with Jeff on my back while pulling my delivery cart behind me, I was also wearing my saddle bags so I could carry the money I received. I still had some bandages wrapped around my body; my left wing was held down by the bandages because it was still slightly broken. Only my right wing could move freely.

It was crazy; ponies all around kept waving to me with large smiles on their faces while saying hello.

There was a group of male ponies who cheered loudly as I walked by; they shouted stuff like "_Whoo Matt, you rock." _And _"Yeah, you kicked Thorn's flank." _ I only waved to them before I continued walking.

There was even a group of female ponies that giggled in excitement as I walked passed them. I couldn't help smile nervously before I covered my face with my free wing and did a fast-walk to walk away faster.

Once I was far enough away, I slowed back down before I removed my wing from my face and let out a loud sigh, I then kept walking towards the next location for my next delivery. "Haha, this is the life Matt. Everypony thinks we're awesome….oh I mean, they think…_you're_…awesome. I mean, I only fought off a bunch of shadow ponies, but you….you're the one who took on the big-boss, you're the one who saved Canterlot." Jeff said in a pleased voice.

I remained silent as I kept walking. "Hey, cheer up dude! Battle's over, you won. Come on big fella; let's hear your hero cry!" Jeff said with a confident smile.

"Yay." I responded quietly.

Jeff raised his eye brow. "I said _hero cry_. Not _Fluttershy impression_. You can do better than that, can't cha?"

"Yay." I repeated with a louder voice.

Jeff then climbed up on top of my head and looked down at my face to see a small frown. "Wow, you're really bummed about somethin'. What to tell your old-pal Jeff what's buggin' ya?"

I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was slightly concerned about me so I let out a small sigh before I spoke. "It's just…I don't think I deserve all this. I mean, I killed somepony. I've never done something like that before…and to actually do it for the first time, it was just….I don't know the word for it." I said with my ears low.

Jeff then climbed down from my head onto my snout so he could look me in the eyes. "Dude, calm down! It was an accident. You didn't mean to kill Thorn, it just…you know! Happened."

"It's still my fault he's dead." I said.

Jeff then shook his head slightly. "Look, Celestia said there was no other way to beat him anyway. And if you want somepony else's opinion, I say the guy deserved it. He was pure evil and you did all of Equestria a favour."

"Thorn may have deserved to die Jeff, but that doesn't mean he had to. I mean, we may have been able to catch him or something." I said while thinking of a way we could have done that.

"Matt, there was no other way. You're not a bad pony for what you did and we're gonna find a way to make you see that." Jeff said with an honest smile.

I smiled warmly at him even though he was on my snout. "Thanks Jeff. But this isn't important right now; I have a job to do. Where's the next delivery going?"

Jeff then flew off my snout and into the delivery cart behind me. I watched as he reached into the cart and pulled out a clip-board with a check-list on it before he looked it over. "Let's see!...err…looks like _Ponyville schoolhouse_. We're supposed to deliver two big bags of apples for their lunch period."

"Ok then, guess we're on our way to school." I said before I looked back to the road and started walking my way to the schoolhouse.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle**

Luna's castle had also been repaired and the bodies of Midnight and his fellow guards had been buried in a cemetery not far from the castle.

Behind her castle, Luna had a large garden. It had dark blue roses on dark green bushes. It had a stone path that went all around it and in the middle of the garden was a large water fountain with a large statue of Luna in the middle, water squirted out from the statues horn and landed the big water-filled pond surrounding the statue.

Luna (With her black eye now gone) was lying on the grass in front of the fountain looking down at her reflection in the water. "I don't know what I should do. Ever since Matthew saved me, my sister and possible all of Equestria, I feel…I don't know how I feel. I can't stop thinking about him; when he stood up against Thorn, he was so…brave. I've never seen such bravery from such in a colt." she thought.

Luna then stood up and walked towards the stone path. Once she reached it, she decided to take a walk through the gardens while she thought about it. "Matthew has shown me kindness, understanding, friendship; he's the only colt who didn't becoming scared when we he first met me and he brought my magic back to me when it was stolen by Thorn. But that don't explain why I feel the desire to be around him." She thought.

Luna's thoughts continued to flow through her mind as she kept walking. "I mean ever since the night Thorn died, I can't eat, I can't sleep and I keep thinking about Matthew and how much kindness he's show me since we met. If feel woozy in my stomach and my heart beats faster every time I see his face in my mind. Why is this happening to me? I need somewhere else to think straight and clear my head." She thought in a frustrated tone.

Her horn then glowed and she disappeared in a flash of light.

**Ponyville schoolhouse**

I carried the two big bags of apples in my mouth, they were both heavy but I could handle it.

I then placed them in front of Miss Cheerilee who was standing in the front doorway of the school with a small bag of money lying next to her. "Here you go Miss Cheerilee, hope the kid's like'em." I said with a small smile.

"Oh, I'm sure they will. Here's your pay." Cheerilee said before she pushed the small bag towards me. Jeff then flew down and grabbed it in his talons before he flew back onto my back and shoved the small bag into one of my saddle bags.

As I watched him place the bag in my saddle bag, I felt something poke me on my shoulder and I turned my head back to Cheerilee to see she had another small bag in her mouth, she placed it in front of my hooves.

Me and Jeff looked at the bag in confusion. "Errr…Miss Cheerilee, you already paid. Why are you giving me this?" I asked her curiously.

"It's for you, it's a small tip. The schools way of saying _thank you_ for saving Canterlot and ridding Equestria of that awful pony." Cheerilee said.

I was slightly shocked by this; I've never got a tip from anypony while I've been working for Applejack. "Oh…you know about that? I-It was an accident, I didn't mean to…you know!...there was a statue with a spear and…Thorn just...if I'd known it was there then, maybe-" I tried to explain before Cheerilee cut in.

"Matt, you don't have to explain. I know it was an accident, I know you'd never do something like that on purpose" Cheerilee said with an understanding smile.

"I know, it's just; everypony in town is cheering me on for not only stopping Thorn, but also causing his death. I mean, why is everypony so happy that I basically killed somepony?" I asked with my ears low.

Cheerilee placed her hoof on my shoulder. "Matthew, I know what goes on around Ponyville. And when we all found out that Thorn had died and that you were the one who fought him, everypony was shocked including me. In a way, it's bad that somepony died that night. But Thorn was a pony who wanted to bring endless destruction to us all. We're just…glad he can't hurt us anymore. Understand?"

I let out a small sigh before I nodded my head. Cheerilee then smiled warmly at me. "Good, now you go and finish your job, then go back to the library and try to cheer up. It wasn't your fault. Remember that!"

I then gave her a small smile. "Ok. Thanks Miss Cheerilee. This was my…last delivery for the day anyway. I'll just…return Applejack's cart and then I'll go home and take a break." I said before Jeff flew down and picked up the small bag of money in his talons. He then flew back up onto my back before I turned around and walked away from the school with Cheerilee waving me off.

**Later: Sweet Apple Arches**

I entered the farm land to see Applejack by the front doors of the barn. I then then headed towards her. Once Applejack noticed me, she smiled and walked up to me. "Howdy there hero boy, is it that time of the day already?" she said before she detached the cart from my back and she then pulled saddle bags full of money off my back with her mouth.

"Applejack, please don't call me that!" I asked in a polite voice with a small frown.

Applejack noticed the discomfort in my voice and placed the saddle bags down on the ground so she could speak. "Is somethin' wrong, sugar cube?" she asked with a concerned look.

"No, no it's nothing. I'll…get over it." I said with my ears slightly low.

Applejack gave me a sweet smile. "Come on Matt! You can tell me anythin'. Us here at Sweet Apple Arches are always here to help with any problem. Right Big Macintosh?" she said as she turned her head to the left.

I looked in the direction she was facing to see Big Macintosh standing next to a haystack while holing a pitchfork in his mouth. "Eeyup." He muffled before he stabbed the fork end of the pitchfork into the haystack which made a rustling stabbing sound.

The moment I saw the pitchfork stab into the haystack, my eyes widened as I suddenly experienced a flash-back. I once again witnessed the stone spear stab into Thorn's back and burst out through his chest. Once the flash-back was over, my eyes were still wide as my legs started shaking slightly.

Applejack turned her head back to me and noticed the odd look on my face. "Err…Matt…are ya ok? Your face looks a little pale."

"Emm….gotta go." I quickly said before I shot off out of the farm; causing Jeff to fall off my back and land with a thud on the ground.

"Matt wait! You forgot your pay." Applejack yelled out to me. But I didn't hear her as I was too busy galloping out of the farm as fast as I could.

Applejack then walked up to Jeff. "You ok there Jeff?" she asked as she used her hoof to help him back up.

Jeff rubbed his head with one of his wings. "Yeah, I'll live. I'm a bit worried about Matt though. Well, I'd better catch up with him."

"Hold on! You'd better take Matt's pay with ya." Applejack said before she walked into the bar and came back out with a bag of money in her mouth. She then placed it on the ground in front of Jeff and he flew up on top of it and grabbed it in his talons.

"Thanks AJ. See ya." Jeff said before he flew off after me with the bag of money in his talons. Applejack couldn't help but let out a worried sigh.

**Meanwhile: Fields outside of Ponyville**

Luna had come here to get away from her castle and clear her head of things. But the more she tried to forget about things, the more they kept coming back. She was lying on her back on the soft grass looking up at the clear blue skies.

"I've been out here for nearly a full hour now and my head is still filled with questions and thoughts. Why do I feel suddenly more attracted to Matthew, is it because of what he did? Is it because I like him so? Why can't I sleep or eat? Aww…there's so many questions in my head that I'm starting to get a headache." Luna said to herself.

In a way, Luna knew the answer. She just didn't want to admit it. "I guess what I feared is true….I've fallen in love with Matthew. I can't believe this; I'm in love with the hero of Canterlot, I'm such a school filly." She said to herself before she leaned up from the grass and rubbed her eyes with her hooves.

At that moment, she decided to accept the truth. Once she did, all the stressful feelings suddenly went away and she removed her hooves from her eyes before growing a small smile on her face. "I…I'm in love."

She then stood up on her hooves and giggled in excitement. "I feel so….joyful now. I feel like I've seen a light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel, I haven't felt this way for thousands of years…..I simply must tell him straight away." She said to herself before she galloped off towards town.

**Meanwhile: Library**

I galloped towards the library as fast as I could to run off my thoughts. I though burst through the front door of the library and quickly slammed it behind me before I rested my back against it.

Suddenly, I felt a hard pound against the door and I hear a loud voice yelling "OW." I then pushed off against the door and turned around to open it. I grabbed the nob with my hoof before I pulled the door open.

I was confused to see that there wasn't anypony there. At that moment, I noticed Jeff was stuck against the door with his wings spread out and his beak pointing upwards with a small bag of money in his talons. He must have smacked against the door when I slammed it.

"Oops, sorry." I said sheepishly before I grabbed his tail feathers with my mouth and peeled him off the door. I then placed him on the ground and he got up onto his feet with a dazed look on his face.

"Are you ok? Why didn't you slow down when I closed the door?" I asked curiously.

Jeff then shook off the daze and gave me an annoyed look. "I was flying so fast because you sprang off and forgot you pay from Applejack." He said in an annoyed tone as he held up the bag with on talon.

I saw the bag and my face went red from embarrassment. "Oh…yeah, that….silly me, haha." I laughed awkwardly.

Jeff then rolled his eyes before he put the bag down. "Hey Matt, come down here for a moment!" he asked with what seemed to be a calm voice. I then lowered my head down to him.

Suddenly, he grabbed my head with his wings and pulled me closer to him before he looked me in the eyes. "Listen Matt! You can't go on like this. Nopony is mad at you for what happened to Canterlot, the castle or Thorn. GET OVER IT!" Jeff yelled before he released my head from his grip and I pulled it back up.

I was slightly surprised by Jeff's sudden demanding attitude; I just stared at him as he stormed his way into the library. Twilight then entered from the next room to see Jeff go up the stairs by jumping up from one step up to the other.

I then picked up the bag of money in my mouth and closed the front door again before I walked over to the large wooden table on the other side of the room. Twilight then walked up to me. "What's going on Matt? I heard Jeff yelling so I came in to see what all the fuss was about."

I then placed the bag of money on the table and let out a small sigh. "Yeah, he's…kinda annoyed at me today. Can't say I blame him, I have been freaking out all day."

Twilight raised an eye brow. "What about?" She asked curiously.

"Well….I've been feeling kinda…troubled lately about what happened that night at Canterlot….you know!...the night when…._it _happened." I said nervously.

Twilight suddenly realized what I meant. "Oh…you still feel bad about that? Matt you probably saved hundreds of lives that night. I know it was an accident and you feel that something else could have been done. But even if we did capture Thorn, we would never be able to hold him forever. He would have broken out and he'd still be a threat to Equestria." She said trying to make me feel better.

"I know Twilight, it's just….he died because of me….because of my last attack….I was trying to just knock him out but instead….(Sigh)….I feel like….I'm a killer." I said with my head hanging.

Twilight then came closer to me before she nuzzled her head against my neck. "Oh Matt, I never knew you felt so strongly about this…but you're not a killer, it wasn't your fault .it may have been just…..a cruel fate." She said trying to make me feel better.

As I felt her soft mane against my neck, I couldn't help but rub her back with my hoof. "I know Twi; I just can't shake the bad feeling."

At that moment, we heard a knock on the door and we separated. Twilight walked up to the door and used her magic to open it; revealing Rarity standing on the other side. "Hey Rarity, what are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

Rarity then walked through the doorway. "I was in my Boutique when I noticed Matthew running down the street. He looked as though he was troubled so I came to check on the poor dear." She said with concern in her voice.

I then walked up to her. "It's alright Rarity; I'm just not feeling like myself today."

Rarity then came closer to me. "I'd say it's more than just that. Something's bothering you, I know it. Maybe I can help, what is it?"

"It's….complicated." I said in a depressed tone.

Rarity was silent for a moment before a small smile came on her face. "Sounds like somepony needs to relax. Lucky for you, I know the perfect place. We can go there right now."

I gave her an unsure look. "I don't know Rarity, I just got here and I think I should just stay here for a bit."

Rarity placed her hoof on my shoulder. "I promise it'll make you feel so much better, it'll take the stress right out of you. Now come along!" she said walked towards the door.

I then let out a small sigh before I decided to go along with it. Rarity then opened the front door with her magic before she walked through the doorway with me following behind. Once I walked through the doorway, I turned around to face Twilight who was standing by the doorway. "Well, I guess I'm going with Rarity to…where ever she's taking me. See ya Twi, I'll be back soon."

"If what she says is true and it will help you relax, you stay there as long as you need to." Twilight said with a kind voice.

I smiled at her. "Thanks Twi."

Twilight then planted a small kiss on my cheek. "Just explain the problem to Rarity and she might give you some good advice on how to handle it, she's very good at that." She said with a small smile.

"I will." I said before I turned around and started following Rarity. "Love you." I heard Twilight say from behind me.

"Love you too, Twi." I responded back to her as I kept following Rarity to this mysterious place.

Once I was out of sight, Twilight still felt a bit concerned about me and tried to think of a way to help me. She then got an idea. "Spike, where are you? I need you to take a letter." She said as she walked back into the library and closed the door behind her.

Unknown to us, Luna was watching us from behind a nearby house. She saw everything we just did and she grew a look of sadness on her face. "Oh….of cause….he's with Twilight Sparkle, I forgot about that." She said to herself before she walked away while looking down at the ground.

As she walked through the streets of Ponyville, she couldn't help but talk to herself. "The only colt I've ever had strong feelings for, and he's with another pony. Twilight Sparkle is lucky to have a colt like him, but how am I supposed to tell Matthew my feelings now? I can't just keep it secret all my life. Having a colt like Matthew….has always been my dream." She said to herself as she walked towards Ponyville Park.

Once Luna entered the park, she admired the beautiful gardens around her. But while she was, she couldn't help but think about how she and Twilight could have the same feelings for the same colt. After going deep into the park where nopony could see or hear her, she started to sing.

**Luna: **"_Somewhere in my heart…_

_Somewhere deep inside, there's a dreeeam…_

_That's worth dreamin'… _

_Every now and theeeen_

_I get a glimpse of where…he and I could flyyyy… _

_But you and I,I,I,I,I,I…share_

_One dream, one hope_

_We're heading down the saaaame road_

_Even though we don't know where it leeeeeads…_

_We fooollow…the saaame star_

_I'm in love, like youuuu are _

'_Till he reaches out for you or meeeee….we share…_

_One dreeeeem… _

_I imagine what would beeee_

_A magical place is waiting for meeee…_

_It's still out there_

_Our vision is the same_

_Even though we see the world through different eyes…_

_You and I,I,I,I,I,I,I,…share_

_One dream, one hope_

_We're heading down the saaaame road_

_Even though we don't know where it leeeeeads…_

_We fooollow…the saaame star_

_I'm in love, like youuuu are _

'_Till he reaches out for you or meeeee….we share…_

_One dreeeeem… _

_One dream, one hope_

_We're heading down the saaaame road_

_Even though we don't know where it leeeeeads…_

_We fooollow…the saaame star_

_I'm in love, like youuuu are _

'_Till he reaches out for you or meeeee….we share…_

_One dreeeeem…_

_One dreeeeem." _

Once Luna finished singing, she sat down on the grass and looked up at the sky. Luna then used her magic to pick a flower from the ground and held it close to her while thinking of what could be. "If only he wasn't with Twilight Sparkle, then I'd held him in my hooves forever." She said to herself slightly sad before she continued to look up at the sky as the small amount of clouds floated by.

**Meanwhile: Day Spa**

For some reason, I somehow knew Rarity was going to bring me here. In all my days I've spent in Ponyville, I've never been here. It was actually roomier then how it appeared on the show.

While Rarity was getting a back massage from one of the Spa Ponies, I was in the hot-tub leaning back against the side of it. I had to take my bandages off before I got in but the warm bubbling water somehow made my injured wing feel slightly better.

I already explained the situation I was in to Rarity and she was now thinking of a way to help me. "Hmm…sounds like you feel guilty about what happened to Thorn that night in Canterlot."

"I do Rarity; I'm the one who caused his death. I mean, sure I hated the guy but I never wanted to actually kill him. Not to mention all the damage our fight made in Canterlot and the castle. I still can't believe the Princess wasn't mad at me for destroying a part of her castle." I said as I rested my elbows on the side of the hot-tub.

The Spa Pony then stopped massaging Rarity's back and started filing her horn. "Darling, you shouldn't beat yourself up about what happened. It was just a nasty accident and I'm sure it wasn't personal; you should really let it go and move on with your life! Be happy that the monster is gone and nopony was badly injured. Oh, except for you of cause. You were in that hospital for five days, but it was for a good cause and we're all proud of you."

I then placed my arms back in the water and sunk my body down until my chin was touching the water. "Then why do I feel so ashamed of myself?" I said in a slightly sad tone.

Rarity then gave me a small smile. "You just need to relax and get it out your head. Just lean back and let the hot-tub bubble your stress away."

I then took her advice and raised my body slightly up before I rested my head against the side of the hot-tub. I then closed my eyes as I felt the warmth of the water and the ticklish bubbles rushing up against body. As I did, I thought about what Rarity said.

"In a way, she's right. I should be happy that Thorn's gone and I know for sure it wasn't personal. But I just can't stop thinking about how I actually ended somepony's life. Sure, he was an evil psychopath who would have killed us all if I didn't stop him but that's all I had to do, stop him, not kill him." I thought before I let out a quiet sigh. I then decided to try and enjoy the feeling of the smoothing water in hot-tub.

**Later that afternoon: Library**

I walked back to the library alone with my bandages back on and my thoughts still haunting my head. I approached the front door and opened it. I was then surprised to see Princess Celestia with Twilight in the front room.

"Princess? What are you doing here?" I asked as I walked through the doorway and closed the door behind me.

Celestia then walked up to me. "Twilight sent me a letter saying that you feel responsible for Thorn's death and that it was troubling you. Is this true?" she asked.

I was slightly surprised that Celestia was here because of this. I then looked at Twilight. "I was thinking that she could help you understand that you don't have to blame yourself." Twilight said.

I then looked back up at Celestia and my ears lowered slightly. "Yeah, it's true…I don't know what to do Princess; I can't get it out my head."

Celestia then turned her head around and looked down at Twilight. "Twilight, can I speak to Matthew alone please?" she asked in a calm voice.

Twilight nodded. "Of cause Princess." She said before she walked into the other room and closed the door behind her; leaving me alone with the Princess in the front room.

Celestia then lowered her head down to me and gave me a sweet smile. "Now, do you want to tell me what's bothering you?" she asked in a kind voice.

I hesitated for a second before I let out a sigh and started to explain. "I don't understand it Princess, I feel like it's my fault Thorn died that night in Canterlot. My friends keep telling me that _it's not my fault _or_ it was an accident_, but that doesn't change the fact that my last attack caused his death. I mean, I've never killed anyone before. How am I supposed to live with myself knowing that I'm the reason for Thorn's dead?"

Celestia then gave me a slight frown. "Believe me Matthew! It's something you never get used to."

I raised my eye brow in confusion. "What? You mean, you know what it's like? But, you've never killed anyone in your life."

Celestia then sat down in front of me. "That's…not entirely true….Matthew, I'm going to tell you something that only Luna and Discord know about."

I then sat down while still looking up at her. "Ok, sure."

Celestia then took a deep breath before she spoke. "It all started many, many years ago before Luna and I were even Princesses."

A few minutes later, Celestia told me clearly about what happened between her and Grimerd. How she and Luna had to finish him before he could cause any harm to the ponies of Canterlot or Ponyville. I was stunned in shock by this tragic story. "Princess….I…I never knew. I'm so sorry." I said with sorrow in my voice.

"It's ok Matthew, true, I do feel bad about what happened but I got over it a long time ago. Do you know why?...because I accepted that I did what was needed to protect my subjects. Grimerd was far too powerful to be kept alive so…I had no choice. I know Thorn's death wasn't intentional but what's done is done and you need to accept that you did what was needed to protect not only all the ponies in the land, but to protect your friends….your family. I mean, why else did you risk your own life fighting him?" Celestia asked.

"I…I did it because…" I didn't know how to finish my sentence until Celestia finished it for me. "You did it because it was the right thing to do, like fighting Grimerd to the death was the right thing for me and Luna to do. But that's why we don't beat ourselves up about it, because we brought so much good to the land." Celestia explained, I was suddenly starting to understand.

Celestia then looked out the window and walked up to it. "Come and see this Matthew!" she said with a small smile. I then walked up to the window and looked out of it to see a small family of ponies.

Celestia then smiled as she looked at the ponies. "See that family?...Well they probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. If Thorn was still alive, they'd all still be threatened and scared. But because he's dead, you've made a bright future for not only them, but for all ponies in both Ponyville and Canterlot. I know how you feel Matthew; I felt the same way after Grimerd died. But once I realized how much pain he would have caused to my subjects, I knew what I did was right. Terrible, but right."

Celestia then looked down at me and wrapped her wing around me. "I know it's haunting at first, but if you see things the way I just told you, then you'll know you did the right thing and the pain will go away. Understand now?"

I gave it some thought and I suddenly realized that she was right; I did everything that night because it was the right thing to do. True, it wasn't intentional but it did bring hope to the ponies of this town. At first I thought they were cheering me on because I killed the enemy, but now I see that they were cheering me on because I gave them a future without Thorn trying to kill everypony. And all the buildings in Canterlot and Celestia's castle have been rebuilt, so there's no need to blame myself for that anymore.

I then looked up at Celestia. "I…I do…I get it now…if I hadn't fought Thorn as much as possible…he probably wouldn't be dead…and everypony here would still be in terrible danger. In a way…you could say I...I.."

"Saved them all…like a hero would." Celestia cutted in with a smile.

I then chuckled slightly. "Haha…now I know why everypony keeps calling me that." I then smiled warmly up to Celestia. "Thank you Princess…thank you so much." I said before I stood up on my hind-legs and wrapped my arms around her slim neck; locking her in a hug and catching her by surprise. I then realized what I was doing before I quickly released her and placed my front hooves back on the floor. "Sorry…I should've asked first."

Celestia then smiled and giggled slightly. "It's quite alright, you're just happy to finally be relieved of your tormenting thoughts. And I'm very happy to have helped." She said in her calm voice.

I then smiled warmly up at her. "Yeah…Thanks again."

"It's really Twilight you should thank; she's the one who let me know that you were in trouble." Celestia said before she turned her head to the door that Twilight left through. "Twilight, you can come back in now!" she called.

Twilight then opened the door and came back into the room. "Is everything alright now? Does Matt feel better?" she asked curiously.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, everything has been taken care of and Matthew feels much better now. Don't you Matthew?"

I then looked at Twilight. "Yep...much better." I repeated while giving her a sweet look.

"Well then, I'd better get back to the castle before Discord starts wondering where I am. I'm glad I was able to help you think positive about yourself, Matthew. I hope to see you both again soon." Celestia said.

Me and Twilight just waved as Celestia's horn glowed yellow and she disappeared in a flash of light.

Once she was gone, I walked up to Twilight with a warm smile on my face. "Thanks for telling her about my problem Twi, she really helped me get over it."

Twilight smiled back. "Of cause Matt, you know I'm always here for you and I'll always help you no matter what."

I felt heart-warmed by this until I couldn't hold back any longer. I wrapped my arms around the back of her neck and pulled her into a loving hug. "I love you Twilight." I said quietly.

Twilight smiled sweetly at me before she wrapped her arms around my back. "I love you too Matt." She responded sweetly.

We continued hugging for a few minutes before we separated. I then yawned slightly. "Well…it's getting late. We should get to bed; I've had a hard day."

Twilight nodded. "I bet you have." She said before we both walked up the stairs to go to bed.

**The next day: Day Spa**

Me, Twilight, the rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff and Peewee were all relaxing in the Day Spa and because I felt much better, I felt more relaxed now.

Once again, I was in the hot-tub. Only this time, Twilight was in it with me. She was resting herself against the left side of my body with my arm wrapped around her to hold her close to me.

Rarity was having a hooficure, Fluttershy was getting her hooves polished, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were in the hot-tub with us but they stayed on the other side of it and Applejack was getting a back massage.

Spike, Jeff and Peewee were each lying on a relaxation bed with the hands and wings behind the heads. They each had cucumber slices over their eyes.

"You were right Rarity, this does bubble the stress away." I said while enjoying the water.

"Didn't I tell you it would? So now are you going to stop beating yourself up about what happened?" Rarity asked as a Spa Pony was filing her hoof.

"Yeah, thanks to Celestia…and a very special pony…I understand that what happened had to be done." I said.

At that moment, two ponies (one female and one male) walked passed us and noticed me in the hot-tub. "Oh my gosh, is that the pony who-" the female pony said before I interrupted.

"Saved Canterlot and defeated Thorn?...yeah, that's me…and I kicked his ass." I said in a proud voice.

The two ponies then looked at each other in excitment before they looked back at me. "Hey, do you wanna hang out some time?" the male pony asked.

I shook my head. "Sorry, I already have plans." I said before I went back to relaxing in the water with Twilight by my side. The two ponies then walked away until they were out of the room.

Twilight then placed one of her front hooves on my chest. "Now that's the Matt I know and love." She said with a smirk before she rested her head on my shoulder.

Suddenly, Spike leaned up from his relaxation bed and his cheeks looked inflated while he had both his hands over his mouth. I noticed this and raised an eye brow. "Spike, I know you don't like hearing that type of stuff. But you don't have to be so dramatic." I said assuming he was going to be sick.

Suddenly, Spike let out a loud burp and a small amount of smoke came out. The smoke then turned into a scroll in a small flash of light. "A letter from the Princess?" I said, Twilight heard me and leaned up off my side before we both got out of the hot-tub with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie doing the same.

We all then walked up to Spike as he took the cucumbers off his eyes and picked up the scroll. "What's it say Spike?" Twilight asked curiously.

Spike then unravelled the scroll before he started reading it.

"_Dear Twilight and Matthew_

_I was going to give you these in person, but I've been distracted lately so I've sent them in this letter. You all fought bravely during Thorn's takeover and as a reward for all your effort, both of you and your friends are invited to the Grand Galloping Gala coming in two weeks. I hope you can all attend to liven the place up again, see you all very soon._

_Yours, Princess Celestia."_

After Spike finished reading, he unravelled the rest of the scroll to find 10 golden tickets. He then held them up to show us all. "Ten tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala."

We all grew smiles of excitement. "Whow, _the_ Grand Galloping Gala? As in that big party up in Canterlot?" I said in excitement.

Twilight turned her head to face me and nodded. "Yeah, and there's enough tickets for all of us. We can all go."

"Oooh, yes." Spike yelled as he threw his arms in the air. His eyes the widened slightly before he crossed his arms and made an uninterested look on his face. "Oh, I have to go there again?"

I then trapped him in a head-lock in one of my arms and gave him a playful noogie with my other hoof. "Oh, you can try to hide it Spike. But we all know you want to go." I then released him and he rubbed his head with his hand while giving me a slight annoyed look.

"I hope it goes better this time, last time was a disaster." Rainbow Dash stated.

Rarity rolled her eyes. "Please, don't remind me!"

"About what? About how rude that Prince guy was to you? Or about how nopony would buy Applejack's apple supplies? Oh, oh, or about how Fluttershy couldn't get a single animal to like her? Or about how Twilight couldn't get any time with the Prin-" Pinkie Pie couldn't finish her sentence due to Twilight shoving her hoof into her mouth.

Once she was sure Pinkie won't continue, Twilight removed her hoof from Pinkie's mouth. Applejack then stepped forward. "Don't ya'all worry! I'm pretty sure everythin' will go much smoother this time."

Twilight nodded. "I hope so; I'm already getting excited about it." She said before she turned her head to face me. "What about you Matt?"

I gave her a small smile. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to it."

As Twilight and the rest of the main 6 started talking amongst themselves about the Gala, I didn't take my eyes off Twilight. I thought about how she went through the trouble of calling Celestia to the library just to help me feel better about myself. I mean, Celestia wouldn't have known about my problem if Twilight hadn't sent that letter to her. Twilight truly loves me, and I love her more than anything.

"And I know exactly what I'm going to do there." I said quietly to myself as I watched Twilight talk to the others about the Gala.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**The song used in this chapter is called **_**One dream **_**from the cartoon movie **_**Tom Sawyer (2000)**_**. I don't own anything.**

**Note: To those who know the song, I used the soundtrack version and I'm well aware that the song is a duet. However, I only had Luna sing it because Twilight is still unaware of Luna's crush on Matt. And if I had both of them sing it, it wouldn't have made sense. **

**P.S. the songs in this story are better if you listen to the song while you read them. These songs call all be found on YouTube.**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	27. Chapter 27: Cloud race

**Ok, to those who are wondering why I haven't done any chapters about past events like Rarity's secret admirer or the band, don't worry! I have everything planned out and they will be mentioned again in future chapters.**

**Warning: Long chapter.**

Chapter 27: Cloud race 

It's been 3 days since Celestia convinced me that what happened in Canterlot was a good thing for Equestria. We were all excited about going to the Grand Galloping Gala, especially me. I couldn't wait for it.

But today, I was going to go to Cloudsdale for the first time with Rainbow Dash, we were going to finally for fill Spitfire's offer and hang out with the Wonderbolts up there. Spitfire said she'd be waiting for us with Fleetfoot and Soarin'.

**Skies above Ponyville**

Now with my wing finally healed, I was able to take to the skies once again. I was so glad to finally fly again, there's no point in being a Pegasus when you can't fly.

I was following Rainbow Dash towards Cloudsdale. While she was flying, Rainbow Dash practiced a few air stunts so she could show them off to the Wonderbolts. She was more excited about this then I was. She did flips, long dives; she even flew around a cloud which made it spin.

I just continued flying while watching her. "Hey Rainbow, shouldn't you save those moves for the Wonderbolts? You might get tired if you do them now." I called out while she continued to pull off her stunts.

Rainbow Dash then stopped before she flew up to me with a smirk on her face. "What's wrong Matt? Jealous?"

I smirked back. "Ha, no. I was just giving you some friendly advice so you don't screw up in front of the Wonderbolts. I have my own stunts." I said with pride.

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Haha, oh really? Then show me some! So me what stunts the hero of Canterlot can pull off!" she said before she flew to the side to let me past.

My eyes grew slightly and I became nervous. "Errr…" as I tried to come up with an excuse, Rainbow Dash's smirk just grew in amusement. I then narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms. "Ok, I lied about the stunt thing, I have nothing. But that doesn't mean I'm jealous of your flying, I bet I could beat you in a race hooves down."

Rainbow Dash then came straight up to my face with a grin. "Wanna prove that, fly boy?"

I grinned back. "As a matter of fact, I do."

"Then let's do it! First one to Cloudsdale is the winner." Rainbow Dash said before she flew beside me and we both got in a ready position in the air.

We both grinned deviously at each other before we look back forward. "Ready, set….GO!" Rainbow Dash yelled before we shot off like bullets.

We flapped our wings fast as we shot past a number of small clouds. The wind blew hard in my face as I flew as fast as I could, Rainbow Dash was still beside me as we kept racing, meaning I was doing better than I expected; seeing how she's the fastest flyer in Ponyville and all. We made sharp turns around clouds and we did long dives only to pull back up to the clouds.

We were now flying straight and Rainbow Dash was staring to take the lead, she looked back at me with a smirk. "Come on Matt! You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat me."

I smirked back. "You mean, like this?" I said before I zoomed past Rainbow Dash; which caught her by surprise. She then flew faster to try and take back the lead.

I was now far in the lead, I couldn't believe I was actually beating Rainbow Dash in a flying race. I looked back at her with a large smirk on my face as I continued to fly forward with great speed. "Well isn't this a twist, looks like old Mattie's about to out fly the great-OHF." I couldn't finish my sentence as I flew straight into a thick cloud and got the front-half of my body stuck inside; leaving my hind-legs and tail dangling out the cloud.

I tried to use my hind-legs to push myself out but I wouldn't budge. "Oh terrific." I exclaimed in an annoyed tone.

Rainbow Dash then flew up to the cloud I was stuck in while laughing her head off. "Hahaha, hey Matt, you're supposed to avoid the clouds when you're flying in a race. Hahaha." She laughed.

"Ha-ha-ha, very funny, laugh it up! And while you're at it, pull me out of this thing!" I said while kicking my hide-legs.

"OK Matt! This is not time to get your head in the clouds….Hahahaha." Rainbow Dash laughed again.

"RAINBOW, GET ME OUT OF HERE! This stuff is starting to get up my nose." I yelled in an irritated tone as I kicked my legs harder.

Rainbow Dash then stopped laughing. "Alright, just stop kicking and I'll have you out of there in a jiffy." She said as she flew up behind me. I then stopped kicking and she grabbed my tale with her mouth and tugged back on it.

It took 3 more tugs before I finally came out the cloud with a 'pop'. I turned around to face Rainbow Dash. "Thanks Rainbow." I said with a smile.

Rainbow Dash was biting down on her lower lip until she burst out laughing. I was confused. "What?" I asked.

"Your..hahaha..face..hahaha." Rainbow Dash laughed with her eyes watering while pointing at my face with her hoof.

I looked at the end of my snout to see I had a cloud beard; I quickly bushed it off and blushed from embarrassment. Rainbow Dash was still laughing and I gave her an annoyed look. "Not funny." I said.

"It's pretty funny from over here." she said finally calming down. Once she was fully calm, she flew closer to me. "Come on! We're almost at Cloudsdale." She said before she flew past me and headed in the direction towards Cloudsdale with me following behind.

**Cloudsdale**

After a short flight, I could finally see Cloudsdale up ahead. My eyes were wide with amazement at the sight of the cloud-made city with the rainbow river and waterfall in front of me.

We then landed on the soft surface and I felt the ground under my hooves. "Wow, the ground up here is so…plush. This place is awesome." I said as I looked around.

Rainbow Dash turned her head to face me. "Well, you_ are_ in the greatest city in the sky."

"Damn right, so can you show me around? This is kinda my first time up here." I asked.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Sure, I'll give you the grand tour. Follow me!" she said before she turned around and walked away into the city with me following behind.

Rainbow Dash showed me all around Cloudsdale; we even went to the place where they made the different weather like rainbows, snowflakes and rain. It was amazing how these Pegasi could actually make and control the weather here. Suddenly, a thought hit me. "Wait a minute! I'm a Pegasus, that means I can control the weather too. That is so cool." I thought.

After we finished the tour, we decided to finally meet up with the Wonderbolts on the other side of Cloudsdale and we took off into the air to get there faster.

**Cloudsdale Stadium**

After a short flight through the city, we finally saw the Wonderbolts in the cloud-made stadium standing on the balcony. It was the same stadium where Rainbow Dash once saved Rarity and won the best flyers competition.

We then landed in front of the Wonderbolts and Spitfire smiled at us. "Well, looks like you two finally made it. What took ya?"

Rainbow Dash stepped forward nervously. "Yeah sorry we're late; I was showing Matt around Cloudsdale, it's his first time up here."

Spitfire then looked at me and smiled. "Hey kid, looks like you finally healed up after that whole fiasco that happened in Canterlot." She said.

I smiled back. "Yeah, but that's all in the past now. So what are we doing?" I asked curiously.

Spitfire then smirked. "We're gonna see if your flying can match ours. We're gonna show you what we can do and then you're gonna show us what _you_ can do. Now everypony stand along the edge of the balcony!" with that, we all stood along the edge of the balcony. I was standing between Rainbow Dash and Spitfire while Soarin' and Fleetfoot were standing beside each other.

Spitfire then turned her head to me and Rainbow Dash with a smirk on her face. "Ok, I'll go first. Check this out!" she said before she shot off into the sky and showed off her stunts. She was incredible, she did flips and she shot through a row of clouds; leaving each one with a large hole in the middle of it.

She then stopped in mid-air as we stomped out hooves on the cloud surface to applause her. "And now, I'm gonna show you a new move of mine called _Lightning Landing._" She then flew up to a black lightning cloud and flew around it. She picked up more and more speed with second that passed by until lightning started to seep out the cloud and form around her body. She continued to fly around the black cloud really fast with her body covered in lightning; she now looked like a lightning ball rotating around the cloud with great speed.

Soarin' lead his head towards us. "You may want to move." He said before he and Fleetfoot took a few steps back. We were both confused by this.

Spitfire was still flying around the black cloud while covered in lightning until she suddenly shot down towards us. We both quickly moved out the way before she crashed on the balcony; creating a small lightning explosion with a bright flash. When the light faded, me and Rainbow Dash were shocked to see that Spitfire wasn't hurt and she didn't have any soot or burnt marks on her suit. She was just standing straight up with a large grin on her face as if she didn't do anything.

My mouth was hanging open. "WHOW…how did…how could…how'd you do that? You look as though you never did anything." I said in amazement.

Spitfire giggled. "Years of practice, kid. Took me years to get use to that landing, I use to collapse every time I did that move. But now I don't." she said.

Rainbow Dash stepped forward with a large smile on her face. "That was so awesome." She said with excitement.

Spitfire looked at her. "Thanks Rainbow Dash." she then turned her head to face Fleetfoot. "Fleetfoot, you're up." With that, Fleetfoot walked up to the edge of the balcony and took off into the sky.

After I while, Fleetfoot, Soarin' and Rainbow Dash all showed off their best stunts. Spitfire was rather impressed by Rainbow Dash's moves. It was finally my turn and I was hovering in the middle of the stadium. However, there was one little problem. "I don't know what to do."

Rainbow Dash groaned as she face-hooved herself. Spitfire then stepped forward. "How about you pull off that Sonic Rainboom you did once before?" she called out from the balcony.

"Oh ok, but I don't call it a Sonic Rainboom because I gives off a green sonic wave instead of a rainbow one. That's why I call it…_a Sonic Greenboom_."

Spitfire and the others looked at me with raised eye brows. "Oh….cool." Rainbow Dash called out with a fake smile.

I then flew up high in the sky to prepare to preform it. While I was, Rainbow Dash looked at Spitfire. "Don't tell him I said this, but I think that names kinda lame." She said before Spitfire nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile, I was still flying upwards. After I got as high as I could, I stopped and looked down to see I was high above the stadium. "Ok Matt, just do what you did last time! Dive really fast and you should pull it off." I said to myself before I took a deep breath and dived down.

As I dived, I began to pick up more and more speed. My eyes began to water as the wind blew hard in my face, I was sure I was going to perform a Sonic Greenboom again. Suddenly, something fast flew straight in front of me; causing me to lose my flight pattern and fall down to the stadium. I plummeted through the empty air of the stadium's stage arena and Rainbow Dash dove after me.

I flapped my wings to try and catch the air but I couldn't, the ground was getting closer as I continued to fall until Rainbow Dash swooped in and caught me on her back. She flew me back up to the stadium balcony with Spitfire and the others and I got off her back. Soarin' then walked up to me. "Whow, what a wipe-out. Are you alright?" he asked in a concerned voice.

I nodded slightly. "Yeah, I'm cool. Something nearly hit me up there." I then looked in the direction that mysterious creature was heading and saw 3 figures heading into Cloudsdale. I growled. "Come on guys! I want to give who ever those guys were a piece of my mind." I said before I took off towards the city with Rainbow Dash and the others following behind.

**Cloudsdale streets**

I spotted the 3 figures land somewhere in the city and we all noticed a crowd of pegasi all watching the 3 figures in wonder. We landed near the crowd and we were shocked to see that the 3 figures were not pegasi, they were griffons.

They wore black and dark blue uniforms with the initials SG (which were gold) on each of their chests. They had each had brown feathered wings. They weren't wearing anything over their heads and all they had on their faces were a pair of dark purple goggles with yellow glass lenses (the same type of goggles the Shadowbolts wore). By the looks of it, there were two males and one female. The males wear slightly taller than the female. The female then stepped forward to the crowd and we all listened in.

"Ponies of Cloudsdale, we are _the Soaring Griffons_ and we have been traveling around Equestria challenging every town and city's best flyer to a race to prove which species is truly the best flyer, Pegasi or griffons. I am the best flyer in my team and so far, I've won against every pegasi we've challenged in every town and city we've been to. Now we've come here and I personally challenge your best flyer Spitfire to a race. This will be the ultimate test to prove once and for all that griffons are the top flyers in Equestria instead of a small pathetic group of prissy ponies." the female griffon announced.

Everypony started mumbling to themselves about this sudden challenge. At the moment, Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "That's a load of trash talk, if you've come all the way here to challenge Spitfire to a race; you've basically come here to embarrass yourself." She yelled with a glare.

The female griffon then turned her head to face us before she walked over to us. Once she reached us, she grinned deviously. "Well, well, well, look who it is! Rainbow Dash. It's been some time."

Rainbow Dash looked at me with a confused look on her face and I shrugged before she turned her head back to the female griffon. "Errr…do I know you?" she asked in a confused tone.

The female griffon huffed. "Huh, you always were slow Rainbow. Maybe this will shed some light." She said before she grabbed her goggles with one talon claw and lifted them up; revealing her eyes.

Our eyes widened once we recognized her. "Gilda?" We said in surprise at the same time.

Gilda placed her goggles back over her eyes. "Yeah, it's me. How do you like the suite Rainbow? Pretty cool huh?" she said as she flexed her chest.

Rainbow Dash was still in shock. "But….what're you doing here?" she asked.

"I already told ya, I'm here to challenge Spitfire to a race and prove that she's not as cool as she thinks." Gilda stated.

"But why?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Gilda glared. "Because the time I spent in Ponyville showed me something, it showed me that a bunch of dweeby ponies don't deserve the title of _best flyers in Equestria_. So I found the fastest griffons in the land and formed my own personal team." At that moment, the two male griffons landed beside her. "Meet _Jet_ and _Bane_! My team followers. You told me to find _some new cool friends_ someplace else….so I did." Gilda said before Jet and Bane growled at us.

Jet and Bane had the same type of feather hair style as Gilda; however the large feathers sticking out of their foreheads were shorter than hers. Their wings had brown feathers like Gilda, only their wings were slightly bigger than hers. Bane was large and muscly while Jet was scrawny but he looked strong enough to hold out in a fight.

I stepped forward. "It doesn't matter what type of team you have, it'll take more than fancy suits and ignorant personalities to beat somepony like Spitfire." I protested; gaining the attention of Gilda, Jet and Bane.

Gilda looked at me closer before she turned her head to face Rainbow Dash. "Who's the dork? Your coltfriend? Hahaha." She snickered.

Rainbow Dash glared at her. "No, he's not."

"Yeah, I already have a girlfriend and it ain't her. And who the hell are you callin' dork? My name's Matthew, you pompous bird-brain bitch." I said with anger.

Gilda gave me a death look. "What did you just call me?" she yelled in my face with an angered tone.

Rainbow Dash then stepped between us; causing me to take a few steps back. "Better watch who you're talkin' to Gilda! This is the guy who saved Canterlot from an evil alicorn named Thorn. Perhaps you've heard of him." She said with a smirk.

I then stepped out from behind Rainbow Dash so Gilda could see me properly. "Oh yeah, I've heard of you. You're the so-called _hero of Canterlot_ everypony's been yappin' on about for the last few days. Personally, I don't see what the big deal is. I could have beaten that Thorn guy with one talon tided behind my back." Gilda said with an unimpressed voice.

"Oh yeah? Can you pull off a Sonic Rainboom with one talon tided behind your back?" Rainbow Dash asked.

I then tapped her shoulder and she turned her head around to face me. "Err…Sonic Greenboom." I whispered.

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes and turned her head back to Gilda. "I mean, a Sonic Greenboom." She groaned.

Gilda's cheeks inflated before she, Jet and Bane burst out laughing. "Hahaha, Sonic Greenboom? That's what you call it? Hahaha, that has to be the lamest name in the history of lame. Haha." Gilda and her team continued to laugh.

"Yeah well, it's like a Sonic Rainboom and it only takes a skilled flyer to pull one of those off. That's probably why you've never been able to do it." I snapped.

Gilda suddenly stopped laughing with her eyes wide, Jet and Bane stopped laughing and looked at Gilda. There was a moments silence before Jet and Bane stepped back with slightly frightened looks on their faces. Suddenly, Gilda's wide-eyed expression turning into a rageful growl of anger and hatred.

Gilda suddenly grabbed me by the neck with her claw and pulled me close to her face. "Are you saying I'm not a skilled flyer? You little twerp" she growled.

I only glared straight in her goggled-covered eyes. "The Wonderbolts could out fly you any day of week." I said.

Gilda then let go of me. "Is that so? Fine, then let's see if they can out fly us! Forget about racing against just that wimp Spitfire! Instead, we're gonna race against all three of the Wonderbolts. I'll show you who the skilled flyer truly is." She scoffed.

I raised my eye brow in confusion. "Errr…you wanna what-now?" I said.

"You heard me, my team against hers, all the way around Cloudsdale. Winner gets officially named _best flyers in Cloudsdale_. That is, unless they're scared of losing." Gilda said with a mean grin.

"You'll never beat the Wonderbolts, they're the fastest flyers in all of Equestria, you and your team are just a bunch of loud-mouths who talk complete crap." I said.

"Oh yeah, come to the race tomorrow and you'll see for yourself that we can outfly these losers anytime, anywhere." Gilda said.

"Fine, I will be there, only to see the look on your face when they win." I said with a smirk which made Gilda growl.

"Alright then, the racing clouds tomorrow afternoon, BE THERE!" Gilda yelled; causing most of the Pegasi around me to flinch in fight. Gilda then turned around to face Jet and Bane. "Soaring Griffons, take off!" she commanded before she, Jet and Bane took off into the sky and flew into the city until they were out of sight.

Rainbow Dash then walked up beside me and I turned my head to face her. "Well, somepony has some anger issues." I said.

Rainbow Dash nodded. "You're telling me, Gilda always did have an anger problem. And if you think that was bad, you should've heard what she said to my friends when Pinkie Pie tried to throw her a welcome party."

I put my hoof up. "I..err..I know what she said at the party and I totally agree with you, it was rude and uncalled for."

"That's what I thought." Rainbow Dash said in surprise.

Spitfire then walked up to us. "Well, if we're gonna race this Gilda gal, then we need to prepare ourselves for tomorrow. Sorry guys but we're gonna have to cut the day short so we can get ready."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "No biggy! We understand. We'll be here tomorrow so we can watch the race, you're totally gonna make Gilda look like such a lame-o when you win." She snickered.

I smirked. "Yeah you will. And when you do, Gilda will be so humiliated that she'll fly out of here as fast as she can and we won't have to worry about her or her crony's anymore."

"Ok well, we should probably get started on warming up. Do you two want to stay in Cloudsdale for a little longer?" Spitfire asked.

I shook my head. "Nah, we'll head on home. We'll be back tomorrow for the race." I said.

Spitfire gave me a small smile. "Ok then, see ya guys tomorrow." She said before me and Rainbow Dash took off into the sky and headed back to Ponyville.

**The next day: Cloudsdale streets**

Me and Rainbow Dash arrived in Cloudsdale to see a large crowd of pegasi all preparing to head out and watch the race. Near the crowd we saw Spitfire pacing back and forth with Soarin' and Fleetfoot sitting down near her.

We landed in front of Spitfire and we both noticed the worried look on her face. "Hey Spitfire, what's up? Are you nervous or something?" I asked in a concerned voice.

Spitfire shook her head. "No, worse. Soarin' and Fleetfoot can't compete in the race; they both have one wing broken.

"WHAT?" Me and Rainbow Dash yelled in shock at the same time. We then looked at Soarin' and Fleetfoot to see their suits were ripped; they both had a slightly bent wing that was bandaged up and the lenses in their goggles were cracked. "What happened to you guys?" Rainbow Dash asked in a shocked tone.

"We got jumped last night, we couldn't see who it was, it was too dark and they were too fast. We can't fly like this" Soarin' explained.

"But what about the race? You have to fly." Rainbow Dash said.

"Sorry, but the doc said we had to stay off our wings for a few days." Soarin' said.

"Grr…who would do something like this anyway?" Spitfire asked in an angered tone.

I then noticed Gilda, Jet and Bane in the crowd with a few pegasi talking to them. I glared sharply. "I have a few wild ideas who it may have been." I said before I marched over to them with Rainbow Dash and Spitfire following behind me.

Gilda noticed me walking up to her and she glared at me. "Hey Gilda, see Soarin' and Fleetfoot over there?" I said in an angry tone as I pointed my hoof back at Soarin' and Fleetfoot.

Gilda looked at them to see the state they were in before she looked back at me. "Yeah, so?" she scoffed.

"They said they got jumped last night and I think it's kinda weird how they both have a broken wing. You wouldn't know anything about this, would you?" I asked give her a suspicious look.

"Are you suspecting that we did it? We were nowhere near those losers last night." Gilda argued before a deceitful grin grew on her face. "But now it looks like Spitfire's gonna have to fly the race by herself. Three against one, that should make thing mighty interesting in the race. The crowds gonna love it."

I growled slightly. "Why you little-" I was cut off by Spitfire grabbing my tail with her mouth and pulling me back.

She then released my tail and I turned my head around to face her. "She's right kid. Without Soarin' and Fleetfoot to compete alongside me, I'll have to race for my team by myself."

Gilda then grinned deviously before Rainbow Dash stepped forward. "No you won't, because Matt and I are gonna help you by flying for them." She said in an assertive tone.

"What?" Me and Spitfire said at the same time before Gilda laughed.

"You're kidding right? You honestly think you can fill in for them? Don't make me laugh! You don't have what it takes to stand in for'em." Gilda scoffed.

"Oh yeah, well I've pulled off a Sonic Rainboom twice and Matt's pulled one off and he's not even half as good as me." Rainbow Dash stated.

I turned my head to her with narrow eyes. "Thanks' Rainbow, I feel the love." I said sarcastically.

"Grrr…fine, fill in for those losers! It won't matter anyway, we're still gonna blow you out of the sky and win this thing." Gilda stated with a glare.

"That's what you think." Rainbow Dash said as Gilda, Jet and Bane turned around and walked away. As they did, Jet and Bane stopped and looked back at us. They then smiled evilly before they continued to walk away.

"I really don't like those guys." Spitfire stated as she walked up beside Rainbow Dash.

I then walked up beside them. "I bet they _did_ have something to do with what happened to Soarin' and Fleetfoot, they're just keeping it to themselves to look innocent. Well we'll show them what happens when they mess with us. We race…eminently." I yelled as I stuck one of my front hooves up in the air.

Spitfire turned her head to face me. "Err kid…the race doesn't start for another half-hour."

I felt the awkward moment. "Oh…then, we race….in half-an-hour." I said with my hoof still in the air. Rainbow Dash and Spitfire rolled their eyes before they walked away to prepare for the race.

I then noticed them leaving. "Hey, wait for me!" I said before I started following them.

******Meanwhile: Rarity's boutique **

Spike poked his head out from a bush a few feet away from the front door of Rarity's shop; He looked around to see if there was anypony watching him. Once he was sure there wasn't, he walked out the bush and tiptoed over to the front door with a dark blue metal box in his hands. The box was medium size and had a white diamond on each side of it.

Once he reached the door, he placed the box on the ground in front of the door and knocked on it. But as he turned around to walk away, the door opened slightly and Spike froze on the spot.

Spike then turned his head around to the door and was relieved to see there was nopony there. He then looked down at the box and started thinking. "Hmm…maybe I could leave it inside the house, I don't think it's safe to leave them out here." He thought.

Spike then picked up the box and opened the door all the way so he could walk inside the shop. Once inside, he looked around and saw the large round show stand that ponies stand up on when they're wearing one of Rarity's new dresses.

Spike walked over to it before he opened the lid of the blue box to reveal it was full of light blue sapphire gems that Rarity's been looking for to finish one of her newest designs, Spike smiled with drool dripped from his mouth as he stared at the sparkling gems inside the box. "Oooh…these look so delicious…" he said to himself before he shook his head and wiped the drool off his mouth.

"No, I can't eat any these. Rarity's wanted these for some time." Spike said to himself before he closed the lid and placed the box on the stand. "There, now for the finishing touch." He said as he held up a sheet of paper in his hand and moved it towards the box.

"Spike?" a female voice said behind him; startling him. He turned his head around to see Rarity behind him across the room.

Spike quickly turned the rest of his body around and hid the paper behind his back. "Oh…hey Rarity…I was just, errr…your front door was open and…" Spike couldn't finish his sentence as Rarity interrupted.

"What's that box?" Rarity asked curiously as she walked over to Spike.

Spike then looked back at the box. "Oh, this box?...I..errr…I saw it outside in front of your door…and I thought someone would try to take it if it was left out there, so I thought I'd bring it in for you…you know…so nopony would take it…haha." he laughed nervously hoping she'd buy it.

Rarity was silent for a second before a sweet smile appeared on her face. "Oh Spike, that's so sweet of you. Thank you, you're such a gentlecolt." She said as she rubbed Spike's head with her hoof; causing him to blush.

Rarity then removed her hoof from Spike's head before she looked at the blue box on the stand. "I wonder what it could be." She said as she walked around Spike and up to the box. Spike watched her as he slowly backed towards the exit.

Rarity looked down at the box in confusion. "I didn't order anything, why would somepony leave it at my door?" she asked out loud.

Spike stopped walking backwards. "…no idea. I mean, who just leaves a box in front of your door and then runs away?" Spike said with a nervous smile.

Rarity turned her head around to face Spike. "Oh Spike, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason why whoever left this couldn't stay and give it to me in person. Maybe whoever it was had something more important to do." She then turned her head back to the box and her horn glowed blue.

The box lip then glowed blue and it opened to reveal the gems, Rarity let out a small gasp of surprise before a she smiled. "I don't believe it…blue sapphire gems?...I've been looking everywhere for these, now I can finally finish my latest design."

Suddenly, a thought came to Rarity which made her gasped loudly in excitement with a large smile. "It was him; my secret admirer brought these here for me, I just know it was him. Oh, no wonder he left them at my door and went away. That's the whole point of the word _secret_….but how did he know I needed sapphire gems?" she asked curiously before she turned around to face Spike.

At that moment, Spike became nervous. "Oh horse feathers, how do I explain this one? Think Spike! Think!" he thought as he stared to sweat. "Err…lucky guess." He said with a nervous smile.

Rarity raised her eye brow in confusion "But, that doesn't explain how he would-" she tried to say before Spike interrupted.

"Excuse me! I think I hear my laundry calling me. I'm glad you got your gems and I hope you find out who this guy is, see ya." Spike quickly said before he ran to the doorway. As he did, the sheet of paper slipped out of his hand, but he didn't notice as he was too focused on getting out as fast as he could.

After Spike had ran out the doorway and disappeared into the streets, Rarity was left in her shop in confusion. She then noticed the sheet of paper on the floor and looked at it in wonder before her horn glowed blue. At that moment, the sheet of paper then glowed blue before it levitated off the ground and hovered towards Rarity. Once it reached her, it hovered in front of Rarity's face so she could read it.

The more Rarity read through it, the more she came to realize it was a poem. The type of poem she would get along with a new gift from her admirer. Once Rarity finished reading it, she lowered the paper slightly and just stared at thin air.

"This….this is a poem…it sounds like something my…my admirer would wright. But why would Spike have one of his…" Rarity said to herself before her eyes widened slightly. She then looked back at the blue box of gems; thinking about how her admirer would know she needed them.

Suddenly, it hit her and her eyes widened all the way. Rarity then turned her head back around and looked down at the poem which was still held up by her magic, she then looked out the doorway to see the empty streets of Ponyville.

"….Spike?..." she whispered to herself as she continued to stand in the middle of her shop in shock and wonder.

******That afternoon: racing clouds near Cloudsdale**

In the middle of the Equestria skies, hundreds of pegasi sat on large clouds as they waited for the big race to begin. The clouds they sat on looked similar to audience seats that you would see in a stadium. Between those clouds was a cloud that had a checkered banner on it and under the banner was the starting line for the race.

Me, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire were along the starting line warming up so we were ready to begin. Rainbow Dash was doing sit-ups with her front hooves behind her head.

Spitfire was doing stretches

And I was doing push ups but I wasn't using my front hooves to push up, I was using my wings to push up while my front hooves were behind my back

Once we all finished our warm up, we all stood up straight along the starting line. I turned my head to face Spitfire beside me. "So, ready to do this?" I asked.

Spitfire turned her head to face me with a smile. "Yep, don't worry kid! If there's one thing I know, it's racing. Oh, and you're gonna need these." She said before she pulled out a pair of goggles (which looked just like hers) from her suite and placed them on top of my head.

"Thanks Spitfire." I said with a thankful smiled before I used my right hoof to pull the goggles lower until they were over my eyes. Spitfire then gave Rainbow Dash the same type of goggles and she did the same, now we were all wearing goggles over our eyes and we were ready to go.

At that moment, the announcer flew up onto a small cloud above us. He was a light blue Pegasus with a white mane and tail; he was wearing black shades over his eyes and a head-set microphone on his head. "Fillies and gentlecolts, welcome to the race of a life time! One which will prove which team gets to be named _the best flyers in Cloudsdale_. Now let's hear it for the Wonderbolts!" the announcer yelled.

Everypony then cheered and stomped their hooves on the cloud surface they were standing on.

"Unfortunately, two of the Wonderbolt members were unable to partake in the race, but two other pegasi have volunteered to race for them. So let's hear it for Rainbow Dash and…Matthew?...that's a weird name." the announcer said.

While everypony once again cheered, I groaned slightly in annoyance. "Should have seen that coming." I thought.

"And now, let's meet the team they're flying against! The Soaring Griffons." The announcer yelled before Gilda, Jet and Bane flew down from the sky and landed on the same cloud we were on before they then walked up to the starting line. Gilda then gave us a sharp glare before I glared back.

"Alright racers, listen up! you are to fly through all the ring clouds that have been placed all around Cloudsdale, any racer who misses at least one ring is out of the race completely, so watch where you're flying out there! If all members of a team miss a ring and are taken out of the race, the other team will automatically win. The finish line is on a cloud stage in Cloudsdale, the first one to pass it wins. It is possible that all the members of a team might pass the finish line together, but if any one member of a team passes the finish line first while the others are still somewhere behind, they and their team are officially named_…the best flyers in Cloudsdale_." the announcer said before the crowd let out a small cheer.

Once the cheering stopped, the announcer looked down at us. "So Wonderbolts, are you ready?"

Spitfire looked up at him with a confident smile. "As ready as we'll ever be."

The announcer then looked over to Gilda and her team. "Soaring Griffons, are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah, just call it already!" Gilda yelled aggressively before we all got in a ready position.

The announcer just shook his head at Gilda's response before he spoke again. "Ok racers, ready…set…"

Gilda turned her head to me. "Don't slip up out there…dork!" she said coldly. I turned my head to her. "Wouldn't dream of it…skank." I said coldly back.

"…GO!" the announcer yelled at the top of his voice before we all shot off towards the first cloud ring. Once we passed through it, we flew towards the next one and the one after that.

We were all flying as fast as we could, our wings beat harder and harder with every passing minute. At this point, Spitfire and Bane were fighting to take the lead, me and Jet were behind them trying to pass each other, and Rainbow Dash was coming close behind them with Gilda following behind.

After we flew though a number of cloud rings, Gilda got tired of being way behind and flapped her wings to go faster. She the managed to come up behind Rainbow Dash and grabbed her tail with her claw. "Coming though." Gilda said with a devious grin before she gave Rainbow Dash's tail a hard tug; causing Rainbow Dash to be pulled backwards which allowed Gilda to fly a head of her.

"HEY." Rainbow Dash yelled in anger before Gilda gave her a teasing salute and shot off; leaving Rainbow Dash behind with hatred in her eyes as she tried to catch back up with Gilda.

Meanwhile, I was still struggling to fly with Jet ramming himself into the right side of my body. I grew annoyed at this and rammed him back. Suddenly, Gilda appeared on my left side and she rammed herself into me. They both started ramming into my sides one after the other, not only was it annoying, it hurt a bit too.

As we flew though more and more cloud rings, Gilda and Jet were still ramming into me. "I don't get it, they can easily pass me right now and try and take the lead, why are they still trying to throw me off?" I thought to myself.

At that moment, Rainbow Dash managed to catch up with Gilda and she grabbed her shoulders with her hooves. Gilda turned her head around to face Rainbow Dash to see the smirk on her face, she then pulled back on Gilda and leaped over her while still keeping he flight balance; causing Gilda to fall back behind Rainbow Dash.

With Rainbow Dash now by my right side, she gave me a smile and I smiled back, the friendly moment was ruined when Jet once again rammed himself into my right side and I glared at him before I rammed myself into him for a change. Rainbow Dash let out a small growled before she flipped in _drill style_ over to my other side and slammed all her hooves down on top of Jet; pushing him down and causing him to fall behind.

Rainbow Dash looked at me with a smirk on her face before we shared a high-hoof; the small victory was cut short by Gilda suddenly grabbing hold of me and Jet grabbing hold of Rainbow Dash. As we tried to shake out of their grip, they both flew us further apart. As Jet was forcing his claw upon my face and pushing my head away from him, I suddenly noticed we were quickly approaching another cloud ring. But in the state that Jet was holding me in, I was going to crash into the ring itself. I tried to wiggle out of Jet's grip but he had me too tight, I then decided to do something I would regret later, I managed to elbow him right in the face and he let go of me.

As we were getting closer to the ring, I noticed that Gilda was holding Rainbow Dash in the same state as Jet held me and I flew over to them and rammed into Gilda's back; causing her to let out a small grunt and let go of Rainbow Dash. I quickly pulled Rainbow Dash towards me to avoid crashing into the ring before we finally passed through it. We were both breathing heavily as we continued to fly as fast as we could, if we had hit the ring it would mean we would be out of the race and Spitfire would be the only member left.

As we tried to relax, Gilda and Jet took this opportunity to shoot past us. I gave them an angered look as I watched them go ahead of us. "Hey, watch it will ya! You nearly made us crash back there." I yelled before we both flapped our wings harder to catch up.

Meanwhile, Spitfire and Bane were practically wrestling each other for the lead. Most of the time, Bane would try to throw punches at Spitfire only to miss by her quick dodging. At that moment, Gilda and Jet flew up beside her and Jet gave her a devious grin. Jet and Bane then prepared to ram themselves in both of Spitfire's sides. As they attempted, Spitfire flew upwards; Causing Jet and Bane to ram into each other with a loud grunt coming from the two.

Spitfire then dove down from above them until she was in the lead. Gilda then turned her head to Jet and gave him a nod; he then nodded back before he tried to catch up with Spitfire. Once Jet was close enough, he leaded behind her and wrapped his arms around her; causing her wings to become trapped between them and unable to flap. The only thing keeping her up was Jet flying.

Suddenly, we were coming up to a sharp turn but neither Spitfire nor Jet noticed due to Spitfire fighting to get loose of Jet's grip which distracted him. I may have been a bit far behind, but I still noticed this. "Spitfire, look out! There's a turn." I yelled loudly.

Spitfire and Jet looked forward and were surprised by the sudden turn coming closer to them, Jet tried to turn but it was too late. He lost his flight pattern and flew off the turn with Spitfire still in his grasped. Luckily, the pegasi of Cloudsdale placed soft clouds all around the sky for this sort of thing and they both crashed on one safely. But unfortunately, this meant they were both out of the race.

We all managed to get around the turn without any problems, but me and Rainbow Dash were still concerned about Spitfire. As I continued to fly fast, I looked back to see Spitfire and Jet lean up from the cloud. I had the strong urge to go back and check on her, but that would mean I would be out and Rainbow Dash would be alone in the race.

I then felt a hoof on my shoulder and I turned my head around to see Rainbow Dash with a confident smile. "Come on! Let's win this for her!" She said. I smiled back and nodded before we both shot off to catch up with Gilda and Bane.

Half-an-hour later, we were still all in the race and we had already passed a large number of cloud rings and sharp turns, we were getting closer to Cloudsdale and the finish line. At this point, me and Gilda were in the lead while Rainbow Dash and Bane were not far behind us.

We were all struggling to get ahead of the other, Rainbow Dash and Bane kept ramming into each other which almost caused Rainbow Dash to be flung out the race. Bane then suddenly flew right in front of Rainbow Dash and to her surprise, he kicked her right in the face; causing her to let out a loud grunt and fall behind a bit. She then shook off the pain and gave Bane a hatful look. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

Bane then turned his head around to face her before a devilish smile appeared on his face. Rainbow Dash then realized what he was doing and gasped slightly before Bane shot off towards me and Gilda with Rainbow Dash following behind.

Gilda and I were trying to take the lead while giving each other sharp glares. For some reason, Gilda then gave me a deceitful grin and I felt something hard hit my back. I looked up to see Bane flying above me and he pushed himself down and hit me again with both his talon claws.

Suddenly, we were coming up to another cloud ring and Bane grabbed both my sides and threw my aside; causing me to lose control of my flight a bit. Once I got back in control, my eyes widened at the sight of the ring coming closer and I quickly flew back into place; allowing me to fly through the ring and avoid crashing into it. I then look a deep breath before I noticed Gilda and Bane ahead of me.

I saw them grinning at each other before they shared a high-five or a high-talon or whatever you call it. I then realized what they were up to. "They're _trying_ to make us crash." I said to myself before Rainbow Dash shot passed me, I then flapped my wings harder to catch up.

Rainbow Dash and I finally caught up with the two Griffons and we were determined to take the lead from them. I once again had to try and tackle my way through Bane and he was putting up a rough fight. Rainbow Dash was just trying to out-fly Gilda by pushing herself forward.

After a hard struggle, I finally got ahead of Bane. As I was concentrating on my flying, Bane flew high above me and grinned as he bared his sharp talons. I was too busy flying to take any notice but Rainbow Dash saw him and knew he was going fly down and claw at my back. Suddenly, Gilda flew passed her and took the lead.

Rainbow Dash noticed this also and kept looking back and forth from Gilda to Bane as she tried to make a decision. After a second, she finally made one. Rainbow Dash then flew up to Bane and tackled him just as he was about to strike at me.

They were both forced off the race track and crashed softly on another cloud; automatically taking them both out of the race.

As I continued to fly, I looked back to see Rainbow Dash quickly get up back on her hooves. "It's all you now Matt, don't let me slow you down! Go win this thing!" she yelled.

I nodded and turned my attention back to where I was flying and flapped my wings harder to catch up to Gilda who was far in the lead. As Rainbow Dash watched me go, Bane got up and growled in anger before he grabbed a big chunk of cloud in his talons and flew off.

I quickly caught up with Gilda and I flew up beside her, she noticed me and growled. "You just don't know when to quit. Do ya, dweeb?"

I turned my head to face her and smirked. "It'll take a lot more than this to slow me down, Gilda."

"Yeah?...well you're starting to get on my nerves." Gilda said in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, I have an act for that…..later!" I said before I shot off into the lead; leaving Gilda in surprise before she flapped her wings harder to catch up.

After a while of flying through another set of cloud rings, me and Gilda were once again side-by-side. I was on the right and Gilda was on the left. Gilda tried to throw me off my flight pattern by pushing me, ramming into me and even trying to strike me with her claws. But I just kept pushing back and dodging her claws.

As we were fighting for the lead, Bane flew up along the right side of the race track with the chunk of cloud still in his talons. He let out a devious chuckle before he threw the chunk of cloud towards us. As we continued to fight, Gilda punched me across the face; causing my head to turn and I then noticed the cloud heading towards me.

"Whow." I said out loud before I came to a sudden holt, which led to the cloud accidently hitting Gilda instead of me; causing her to fall back a bit. I then took this opportunity to take the lead from her, Gilda saw me go passed her and she gave Bane a sharp glare before she flew off after me.

With Gilda now behind me and not ramming into me, I could now focus on where I was going. I saw Cloudsdale up ahead but I also saw the cloud rings going downwards, meaning I was supposed to dive down them. As I flew faster towards them, Gilda caught me by surprise by shooting past me and diving down the cloud rings.

I then followed her by diving down the rings also. I could see the last cloud ring at the bottom; it was hovering just above the earth ground. But I feared it may have been too late for me as Gilda had already flew through it and was making her way back up to Cloudsdale.

I then made one big flap to speed me up and dive faster, I suddenly felt like I was breaking through the wind. I didn't have any problems with watery-eyes because of the goggles I had on which protected them. I picked up more and more speed, I was sure that I was going to shoot right past the ring and crash to the ground. I was now coming up to the ring.

And as soon as I hit it, the was a loud BOOM and a large green sonic wave spread out across the air above the ground as I shot back up to the sky while leaving a green trail behind me. I looked down to see the trail coming from behind me and the sonic wave spread out across the land. At that moment, I knew that I performed a Sonic Greenboom and I was proud.

I turned my attention back to the sky to see I was coming up behind Gilda with great speed, I then shot past her; catching her by surprise and throwing her off the flight pattern which lead to her crashing up into a cloud.

With the green trail still coming from behind me, I finally reached Cloudsdale and flew towards the cloud stage with the finish line with the checkered banner and a crowd of pegasi in front of the stage. I shot through the banner and all my hooves skidded across the stage as I landed while standing up straight. I breathed heavily before I heard a loud cheering coming from the crowd.

I looked at the crowd and stared at them for a moment before I waved to them humbly. At that moment, Rainbow Dash and Spitfire finally made it and landed on the stage beside me. The announcer from before then walked up to me, grabbed my left hoof with his and held it up high. "The Wonderbolts win, they have earned the name of _Best flyers in Cloudsdale._" he said loudly before everypony cheered as loud as they could.

Gilda then finally landed on the stage while breathing heavily and saw us in our victory, she then growled before Bane and Jet landed behind her. Gilda turned around and walked up to Bane. "What did you think you were doing? You almost made me crash, you overgrown doofus." She yelled before she slapped Bane across the face with the back of her claw.

Bane rubbed his cheek as he and Jet quivered in fight. "You losers should be scared or I'll do to you what you two did to Soarin' and Fleetfoot." Gilda said out loud; causing the crowd to gasp loudly.

Spitfire gave her an angered look. "So it was you, I should have known."

"Told you so." I added.

Gilda then huffed before she walked up to us. I then stepped forward to her.

Gilda glared at me. "I don't get it, how were you able to beat me? Rainbow Dash and Spitfire I understand, but how could a scrawny little dork like you manage to not only beat me, but to pull off a Sonic Rainboom as well?"

I smirked and spread my wings out. "All in the wings, baby." I said as I flapped them slightly.

Gilda gave me an irritated look. "What?...all in the-…are you serious?...I don't believe...GRRR, WHATEVER. Cloudsdale is a lame city anyway; I didn't even want to be the best flyer for a city full of a bunch of pathetic little dweeby ponies, I only raced so I could have the chance to humiliate you, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash."

She then grabbed my neck in one claw and pulled me close to her face. "But mark my words, dork!...I won't forget this day for a while. So you'd best watch your back!" she then pushed me away.

I remained silent as Gilda turned around to face Bane and Jet. "Come on, you two idiots!...we're leaving." She said aggressively before she, Jet and Bane took off into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.

"What…a…bitch." I said with my eyes narrow before I turned around to face Rainbow Dash and Spitfire. "Well we showed her, didn't we?" I said.

"Yeah we did, and we all got the name _Best flyers in Cloudsdale._" Spitfire added.

I let out a small chuckle before I shook my head slightly. "Nah, that title goes to the real Wonderbolts…not us." I said.

Spitfire gave me a confused look. "But, you were the one who crossed the finish line first. You two flew in the race instead of Soarin' and Fleetfoot."

"Hey, we just flew _for_ them. The title basically belongs to them, we just filled their horseshoes." I said with a smirk.

Spitfire then smiled at me. "Oh…very honourable. Thanks ki-…I mean, Matt."

I smiled warmly at her. "I suppose you'll want these back now?" Rainbow Dash said as she pointed to the goggles on her head.

Spitfire turned her head to face her with a smile before she shook her head. "Nah, you keep'em! You both deserve it. There's plenty more where those came from."

Me and Rainbow Dash were surprised by this and looked at each other before we looked back at Spitfire. "Oh thanks Spitfire." I said.

"Well, I think it's safe to say it's time for us to go home. I need a break from flying for a bit." I said before I turned my head to face Rainbow Dash. She nodded. "Yeah, I could use a break right about now."

Spitfire nodded. "Aright then, see you two some other time. We should totally hang out more often."

"Yeah we should, well see ya Spitfire, take care of Soarin' and Fleetfoot alright?" I said as me and Rainbow Dash started walking away.

"Don't worry! I will." Spitfire said before she turned her attention to the crowd of pegasi and waved to them.

As Rainbow Dash and I walked off the stage and headed towards the edge of Cloudsdale, Rainbow Dash turned her head to me. "Gotta admit Matt, you were pretty awesome out there. I even saw that Sonic Rainboom you pulled off."

"Err…that's Sonic Greenboom." I corrected.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "Ok Matt, sorry to say this but that name is really lame." She said with narrow eyes.

I looked at her with a raised eye brow. "Please, the only thing that was lame was your flying back there. I mean, were you even trying to win, or were you amusing yourself by pretending to be slow and then shooting to the finish line before anyone else could?" I asked with a smirk.

We then reached the edge of Cloudsdale and Rainbow Dash grinned at me. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. Shall we find out?"

I grinned back. "Oh, still got a bit of flying in you huh?" Rainbow Dash then nodded.

"Fine then, first one back to Ponyville wins. We go on 3! Ready?" I asked as I got in a ready position.

Rainbow Dash then got in the same position that I was in. "Ready." She answered.

I then looked forward at the sky. "Alright….3." I quickly yelled before I shot off; catching Rainbow Dash by surprise. "Hey." She yelled before she shot off after me.

While I was flying, Rainbow Dash flew up beside me. "What happened to 1 and 2?" she asked with an amused grin.

I turned my head to face her with a smirk on my face. "Screw 1 and 2! Race ya to the café, last one there has to pay." I said before I flew off ahead of her.

Rainbow Dash then let out a small laugh. "You're so on." she said before she flapped her wings harder to catch up.

******Later: Ponyville café **

After a long fast flight, I landed in front of the café while breathing heavily. I looked back to see that Rainbow Dash wasn't behind me, I figured she fell behind.

I then smiled proudly. "Ha, two races won in one day. I am on fire." I said to myself before I turned my attention to the café tables and my eyes widened in shock and surprise to see Rainbow Dash sitting by one of tables with a drink in front of her.

She smirked at me. "Well, it's about time you got here. Don't you know it's rude to keep a girl waiting?"

My mouth was hanging wide open. "How did…you were…I was…you didn't…" I tried to say before Rainbow Dash interrupted.

"Oh shut up and take a seat, will ya! And by the way….you're paying for the orders." Rainbow Dash said with an amused smile.

"Aw-oooh." I groaned with my ears slightly low before I walked over the same table that she was sat by and sat by the other side of it. Rainbow Dash laughed slightly in amusement at the sight of this.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**To my readers: To those who are aware, there are some spelling mistakes in some of my past chapters. I just want everypony to know that I have found and fixed some of those mistakes and I will continue to fix other mistakes when I find them.**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	28. Chapter 28: Helping the CMC

**I'd like to thank the author **_**Najee **_**for giving me the idea for this chapter. This chapter was written for him.**

**Note to **_**Najee**_**: Hope you enjoy this Brony Bro :D **

Chapter 28: Helping the CMC 

It's been 2 days since I won the race in Cloudsdale and unfortunately had to pay for the orders Rainbow Dash and I made at the café. Our drinks cost one bit for each, I was fine with that but Rainbow Dash then ordered a large smoothie which cost me another 4 bits.

….4 bits for one freakin' smoothie, it was a damn rip-off.

**Ponyville streets**

I walking through Ponyville streets with Jeff on my back, I had already finished my deliveries for Applejack and she gave me my usual pay of 100 bits.

Foe the last few days, I'd been saving up for something very special that I was planning to give to Twilight at the Grand Galloping Gala coming next week; I bought it yesterday and hid it somewhere safe in the library where Twilight wouldn't find it.

I smiled as I looked around Ponyville; it was so beautiful when it was really warm and sunny. I breathed in the fresh air through my nostrils before I exhaled through my mouth. "Relaxing day, isn't it Jeff?" I asked as I kept walking.

Jeff was lying face up on my back with his wings behind his head. "Totally dude, I love it when it's this hot. Can you believe it's almost here? The Grand Galloping Gala in all its glory. I gotta tell ya Matt, I'm pretty excited about this. I've never been to a pony gala before….actually; I've never been to any type gala at all. What's it like?" Jeff asked as he continued to look up at the sky.

"Well….it's like a big party, only it doesn't play have wild music like disco or anything like that. It's more like a party with fancy dining, VIP sections for honoured guests and posh music, every high-class pony in Canterlot attends it. If you look at it a certain way, it's kinda like a royal ball." I explained the best I could.

Jeff leaned up to look at the back of my head. "Wow, that sounds….really boring. And we're goin'? I mean, we don't like that stuff." she said with a confused look.

I stopped walking and turned my head around to face Jeff. "I know it sounds boring dude, but it's really a very big and popular party. Everypony in town wants to go, but they can't because they don't have tickets. You, me, Twilight and the others are the only ones here who're going." I said before a smirk came on my face.

"Besides…when we get there and get settled into the party, it won't be boring for long." I said before I turned my attention back on the path and continued walking.

Jeff raised his eye brow and got up on his feet. "What do ya mean?" he asked curiously.

I looked back at him with the smirk still on my face. "Because we've been ask by the Princess to _liven_ the place up once we get there, it said so in the letter the Princess sent. Remember? The one that came with our tickets."

"Oh yeah, so how do we plan to do that?" Jeff asked curiously.

I tuned my head back to the path while still walking. "Don't you worry about that, I have everything planned. Haha, those high-class ponies are in for a real surprise when we step in."

Jeff raised his eye brow. "Yeah, except you haven't filled me in on any of your plans. How am I supposed to help liven things up when you won't tell me how we're gonna do it?" she said in irritated tone.

"Jeff, we have a week to plan things. We'll go through the plans together, but to be honest, I'm trying to plan more on what I'm going do with Twilight there. I'm going to do something special but I have no idea how I'm going to do it." I said with a slightly worried tone.

"Dose this involve what you bought yesterday? Because I saw you hiding something in the quest room." Jeff said.

I started to walk a bit slower. "Well….kinda, it's something I want to surprise her with. So don't tell her where it is, ok?" I asked in a calm voice.

Jeff then flew off my back and landed in front of me; which made me to stop in my path. "Why dude? What is it? And why do you want to keep it a big secret from Twilight?" he asked as he crossed his wings.

I hesitated to tell him what I was planning; it was a big thing that I didn't really want anypony to know about yet. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell anypony about it, especially Twilight." I said in a firm voice.

"Yeah dude, I promise." Jeff said in a normal voice.

"Pinkie promise?" I said still in a firm voice.

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Fine….cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." He sang in a groaning voice as he covered his right eye with his right wing.

I then believed he was true to his word, nopony can break a Pinkie promise. Plus, he's one of my best friends and I trust him. I took a deep breath and prepared to tell him. "Well, when Twilight and I are at the gala…I'm gonna-"

"LOOK OUT!" a female voice yelled; interrupting me.

The moment I turned my head to the direction the voice came from, something rammed into my side and knocking me over onto my back. "Whow, you ok dude?" Jeff asked.

I leaned up while rubbing my head with my hoof. "Yeah, I'm fine. What hit me?" I asked before I searched around for what or who knocked me down. I was then surprised to see Applebloom get up off the ground while rubbing her head, next to her was a wooden skateboard that was lying upside down on the ground and she was wearing a red skateboard helmet.

I got back up onto my hooves and looked down at her. "Applebloom?...are you alright?" I asked in a slightly concerned tone.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Sorry 'bout that Matt." Applebloom said as she looked up at me.

"It's ok." I said before I walked over to her skateboard and used my hoof to flip it over back onto its wheels. I then looked back at Applebloom. "What are you doing anyway?" I asked with a raised eye brow.

Applebloom then walked over to her skateboard and stood up on it. "We're tryin' to see if we could get our cutie marks bein' profectional skateboarders." She explained before the skateboard started shifting back and forth; making it difficult for Applebloom to keep her balance.

"Whow, whow, whoooow." She cried as the skateboard shifted forward and she fell backwards. I quickly caught her on my snout before she could hit the ground; I then gently pushed her back on her hooves.

"Emm, we?" I asked curiously. Before she could answer, I heard a sound behind me that sounded like more skateboards rolling along the ground. I turned my head around to see Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo coming this way on skateboards. However, they were both wobbling on them. They were both wearing skateboard helmets; Sweetie Belle had a light velvet helmet while Scootaloo had a dark blue helmet.

Once they reached us, Scootaloo stumbled off the skateboard but managed to keep herself from falling over while Sweetie Belle continued to slowly move towards me on her skateboard. "Err…I don't think I know how to stop. Little help!...please?" she said as she slowly rolled along past me.

My sight never left her; causing my head to slowly turn as I watched her slowly go by. I didn't worry about being fast enough to stop her because she was going so slow, I just placed of my left hoof on the back of the skateboard and it came to a gentle stop before Sweetie Belle stepped off it.

Sweetie Belle then turned around to look up at me. "Thanks Matt." She said in her sweet little voice. I just smiled warmly down at her. "No problem." I responded.

Scootaloo and Applebloom then walked up to Sweetie Belle. "So much for getting our cutie marks as skateboarders, huh?" Scootaloo said with a slight disappointed look.

Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement. "Yeah, skateboarding probably isn't the best thing for us; it's too wobbly and difficult."

"Not to mention, painful." Applebloom added.

"Girls, you shouldn't push yourselves into doing something dangerous just to get your cutie marks. Don't you think it's better to wait for your talent to come instead of going through all this? Trust me! Your marks will come eventually; you just need to be a little patient before they do. Ya get me?" I said with an honest face.

Applebloom looked up at me. "That's what everypony keeps telling us, but we really want our cutie marks Matt. We're tired of being called _blank flanks_ at school." She said as she looked down at the ground with her ears slightly low.

I couldn't help but feel bad for her and I placed my hoof on her shoulder. "Aww, who calls you something as insensitive as that?" I asked.

Applebloom looked back up at me. "Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." She answered with slight sadness in her eyes.

"Oh, that figures." I said in an unsurprised voice. "But you know there's other ways to get your cutie marks besides falling off skateboards, maybe you should try something a little safer." I suggested.

Scootaloo then smiled. "Yeah, maybe we should try wrestling." She said in an excited tone.

"Or house building." Sweetie Belle added.

"Or mountain climbin'." Applebloom added.

I was slightly frightened by these suggestions because I was concerned for their safety. "Whow, those are NOT what I had in mind. I meant something like cooking, or art, or something like that. You know, something not so dangerous." I said hoping they'd agree.

Applebloom tapped her chin with her hoof as she thought about it. "Well….I guess we could try bakin' at Sugar Cube Corner…"

"Hey, maybe Matt could help us get our cutie marks." Sweetie Belle said in excitement.

Scootaloo turned her head to face Sweetie Belle with a large smile on her face. "Yeah, what better pony to help us than the hero of Canterlot?"

A smile then grew on Applebloom's face. "Hey yeah, good thinkin' there Sweetie Belle." She then looked up at me. "What'd you say Matt? Can you come with us?" she said with an excited smile.

My eyes widened slightly in surprise, I wasn't expecting them to want me to go with them. "Oh…err…sorry girls….I'm kinda busy today, I have a lot of planning to do for the Grand Galloping Gala coming soon. I'm really sorry."

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then walked up beside Applebloom and they all looked at me with big puppy dog eyes. "Pleeeeese." They said at the same time.

Somehow, I couldn't say no to those eyes. "Oooh…what the hay? I'll help." I said with a small smile.

Their eyes then returned to normal as they all smiled in delight and excitement. "Great, so should we start headin' over to Sugar Cube Corner?" Applebloom asked.

I put my hoof up. "Hold on, We have to go to the library first. I need to pick up some stuff."

"Oh….ok, but let's make it fast!" Scootaloo said before she, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle walked past me and headed to the library. Jeff flew back onto my back and I started following the girls.

**Later: library**

After arriving at the library, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were waiting for me in the front room while I was getting supplies for our day. They passed the time by reading some of the books, they each had a book and Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were taking interest in theirs while Scootaloo wasn't, she was holding up the book she had in one hoof while resting her cheek against the other with a board look on her face.

Meanwhile, I was in the other room placing items that we might need in to my saddle bag. I had already placed inside some apples, a flashlight (in case we stay out too late) and a set of rain-coats (in case it starts to rain or if one of the girls get cold).

Twilight then came into the room with Jeff on her back, she then noticed me packing my saddle bag. She walked up beside me. "Matt, what are you going?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

I turned my head to face her and smiled. "Applebloom and her friends want me to spend the day with them to help them get their cutie marks; I'm just packing stuff we might need while we're out." I explained.

Twilight raised her eye brow in confusion. "That's nice, but how does you being with them help them earn their cutie marks?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, they wanted me to come with them, I said I was busy, they gave me the big adorable eyes look, I caved in and here I am." I said before I went back to packing my saddle bag. "Huh, what else can I pack in here?" I asked myself while rubbing my chin with my hoof.

Twilight just simply rolled her eyes. "When will these three learn that they have to just be patient and their cutie marks will appear when they're ready?"

I looked back at her and smiled. "I know Twi, but let's play along with them! Who knows, I might end up enjoying myself today." I said before I fastened up my saddle bag and picked it up with my mouth, I then placed it onto my back.

"Alright Matt, you go hang out with the girls, just don't let them do anything dangerous!...you know what they're like." Twilight joked with a smile.

"Don't worry! I won't." I said before I looked at Jeff on her back. "Coming Jeff?" I asked.

"No thanks, I have a lot of things to do today, important things." Jeff said as he crossed his wings.

I looked at him with narrow eyes. "No you don't."

Jeff was silent for a moment before he let out an annoyed sigh. "Ok, I don't. I just don't want to go, all right?" Jeff said as he crossed his wings.

I just rolled my eyes. "Fine, have it your way! I'm going." I said before I walked passed Twilight and Jeff.

I entered the front room and once Scootaloo noticed me, she couldn't put the book down fast enough before she shot up in front of me. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle then joined her. "Alright, so was it Sugar Cube Corner first?" I asked.

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah, you said we should try our luck out on cookin'!"

Sweetie Belle turned her head to face her. "So what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" she said before they all galloped to the door, I smiling in amusement before I followed them calmly.

Once we reached the door, Applebloom opened it and she galloped out the doorway with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo galloping behind in excitement. I stopped at the doorway and Twilight walked up beside me with Jeff still on her back.

I turned my head to face her. "I'll see ya later Twi. Don't worry; I'll look after the girls."

Twilight nodded. "Ok Matt, be back soon! Alright?"

I gave her a small smile. "Ok, love ya Twi."

Twilight smiled warmly at me. "I Love you too, Matt." She said before she gave me a small kiss on my cheek.

"Awwww." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said with big smiles as they watched us. "Eeeewww." Scootaloo moaned in disgust.

"I know how you feel Scoot; it gets me like that every time." Jeff said with narrow eyes.

"Can we just go to Sugar Cube Corner already? It feels like we've been here forever." Scootaloo said in a slightly frustrated tone.

I looked down at her and chuckled slightly. "Ok, little miss pushy. We can go now if all of you are ready."

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then grew large smiles. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS QUEST WITH MATTHEW, YAY." They all yelled together before they shot off into town.

My eyes widened slightly as this caught me by surprise, I turned my head to face Twilight. "Well, I guess I'm going. I'll be back later Twi." I said before I galloped after the Crusaders. "Hey, wait for me!" I yelled.

Twilight just shook her head in amusement before she walked back into the inside the library and closed the door behind her.

**Sugar Cube Corner**

After finally catching up with the girls, we all arrived at Sugar Cube Corner.

We all then walked inside. While the Crusaders looked around the shop; admiring all the delicious looking food, I walked up to the counter to see there was nopony behind it. I stood in front of the counter and looked around before I used my hoof to ring the small bell on the counter.

At that moment, Miss Cake walked in through the swinging doors before she noticed me in front of the counter. She then walked up to the counter with a smile on her face. "Oh, well hello Matthew. Can I help you?" she asked politely.

I nodded. "Yeah, is Pinkie Pie here?" I asked.

"Yes, I think she's in the kitchen. If you want to see her, feel free to go in." Miss Cake said kindly.

I smiled at this. "Alright thanks." I said before I turned my head around to see Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo still admiring the food. "Come on you three! We're going in the kitchen." I said before I walked around the counter. "Thanks again, Miss Cake. Say hi to Mr Cake for me!"

"Oh I will." Miss Cake said as she watched me go passed her.

"Comin'." Applebloom said as she, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo followed me towards the kitchen. Once we were in the kitchen, I looked around to see that nopony was here. "Wired, Miss Cake said Pinkie was in here. Guess we'll have to wait for her." I said before we all sat down at the kitchen table.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then then started talking amongst themselves "Did you see all that food back there? Cupcakes, ginger-bread ponies, it all looks awesome." Scootaloo said.

"I know, I still can't believe Pinkie Pie actually lives here, she's so lucky." Sweetie Belle said.

Applebloom then looked at her with a raised eye brow. "Speakin' of which, where is Pinkie Pie anyway? She should have been here by now" she asked as she looked around the shop.

I started to think that myself so I looked around as well. "Huh, I don't know, she's usually here. In fact, this is usually the time were she jumps out of nowhere and yells-"

"SURPRISE." A happy toned voice yelled behind me; causing me to let out a loud yelp in fright. I held my hoof to my heart as I turned my head around to see Pinkie Pie laughing loudly.

"Damn it Pinkie, what are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack? Because I don't need one of those." I said in a slightly angered tone.

Pinkie Pie then stopped laughing but the smile was still on her face. "Sorry Mattie, I couldn't resist. You were there, the opportunity came up, and I took it. I hope I didn't scare you too much."

I then tried to calm down by taking deep breaths. "It's ok Pinkie…..I'm alright…." I said between breaths before I finally calmed down. "So anyway, can I ask you something Pinkie?" I said.

Pinkie Pie's smile grew. "Sure Mattie, I love questions. Especially when they're questions in a knock-knock joke." She said while jumping up and down on the spot.

"Ok, well the girls want to try and earn their cutie marks by cooking something. Do you mind if we try to make something here?" I asked.

Pinkie's smiled then grew even larger. "Sure, I can even help. Wait here! I'll get a cook book! She said before she shot out of the kitchen. After a few seconds, she shot back in with a book in her mouth.

She then placed it down on the table before she used her hoof to flip through the pages until she stopped on a page with cupcakes on it. "Oh, oh, let's make these!" she said in excitement.

We all looked at the page before Applebloom looked at Pinkie Pie. "Didn't I try to make cupcakes once before?" she asked.

Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yep, but there's always time for a second try, right?"

Applebloom then looked back down at the book before she made her decision. "Well…I guess there's no harm in tryin' it again." she said with a voice that sounded like she was unsure.

"Hmm…yeah, I'm alright with doing it." I said.

"Ok, wait here again! I'm gonna get you guys some chef hats." Pinkie Pie said before she shot out of the room again.

"Chef hats?...yeah, I can already see this going bad." I thought with narrow eyes.

A few minutes later, me and the Crusaders were standing in a line with chef hats on our heads. "I can't believe I'm wearing this thing." I thought with an unexcited look on my face.

Pinkie Pie walked left and right in front of us while talking like a general would do, mostly because she was acting like one. "Alright team; we have a mission in this kitchen. It is important that we stick to the task and stay focused, there is no room for weakness in this kitchen, and there is no room for failure." She said in a firm voice.

I then looked at her with a raised eye brow. "Pinkie, we're just making cupcakes. What's with the army talk?" I asked.

Pinkie Pie suddenly pushed her face against mine. "There's no room for questions either, Mister." She said as I was forced to look into her big blue eyes. She then pulled her face away and continued pacing; leaving me a bit stunned and….slightly frightened. I then shook it off and continued watching Pinkie Pie.

"So team; are you ready?" Pinkie Pie asked as she stopped pacing. We all then nodded. "Alright then, dismiss!" she said before we all split up to different parts of the kitchen to begin.

Applebloom read the recipe, Sweetie Belle collected the ingredients when they were needed and Scootaloo poured the mixer into the paper cases. Unfortunately, it was a messy job. I didn't blame them of cause, but the girls didn't really know how to work things right or to be careful.

When Applebloom put the bowl of batter under the mixer, she left it on full-blast and batter flung out of the bowl; making a mess on the table the machine was on.

Sweetie Belle sometimes made a mess when she was gathered the ingredients, like when she had to drag a sack of flour over to the others. She grabbed the sack with her mouth and dragged it over. However, she didn't notice that some flour was leaking out from a hole in the back of the sack.

And after they made the batter and placed the paper cases on the 12 cup cake tray, Scootaloo tried to pore it in with the bowl in her hooves, but she sometimes missed the paper cases and accidently spilled some batter onto the tray.

Meanwhile, I was sitting by the kitchen table with Pinkie Pie, I thought that the girls would want to try doing things themselves, seeing how they wanted to earn their cutie marks by themselves. So I just watch and waited to help the girls when they ask me to.

After a few minutes, the Crusaders were all staring at the oven while waiting for their cupcakes to cook. It wasn't long until the oven made a _ping_ noise; the girls smiled in excitement before Applebloom pulled down the oven door and grabbed an oven-mitt in her mouth. She then reached into the oven and pulled out the hot tray of steaming cupcakes.

However, the cupcakes looked black and crusty. Applebloom placed them on the floor and she, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked down at them in disappointment. "Oh, not again." Applebloom said.

I then walked up to them. "Hey, it alright girls, they…don't look that bad….anyway, it's not how they look, it's how they taste that matters, right?" I said hoping to liven up their spirits.

Sweetie Belle then grew a confident smile. "Yeah, Matt's right. Here, I'll go first." She said before she leaded her to the burnt cupcakes and took a bite out of one.

"So, how are they?" Scootaloo asked curiously before Sweetie Belle's eyes widened and she held her hoof against her mouth as if she was trying to hold back vomit. "They're…fine…one second!" she said before she shot past me and out the back door before she made a puking sound.

She then walked back in with an ill look on her face. "Like I said…fine…" she said before she held her stomach while groaning.

Applebloom and Scootaloo then looked at each other. "Maybe cookin' isn't right for us after all." Applebloom said. Scootaloo nodded in agreement before she and Applebloom too their chef hats off and placed them aside.

"What are you talking about?" I heard Pinkie say behind me, I turned my head around to see her eating the burnt cupcakes. "These are great, do you mind coming back and making more sometime?" she asked before she went back to eating the cupcakes.

"Err...I think we're gonna lay off cooking for a while. Let's try something else!" Scootaloo said as she walked past Sweetie Belle and out the door with Applebloom following. "Yeah, I kinda figured we wouldn't be any good at it." she added.

I then followed them with Sweetie Belle behind me with sick look on her face; leaving Pinkie Pie who was still eating the burnt cupcakes with a smile on her face.

**Ponyville Streets**

We were now walking through the streets looking for something else to do, Sweetie Belle looked a little better but she says her stomach still feels bad. Being caring, I decided to watch over her for the rest of the day in case she felt sick again.

"Well that didn't go as well as I expected." Scootaloo said with her head handing as we walked.

"I know, I mean, how hard can it be to make simple cupcakes?" Sweetie Belle added with her head hanging also.

I then walked up beside them. "Don't worry, girls! I'm sure there's plenty of other things to do around tow-UNF." I couldn't finish my sentence as I bumped into something which caused me to stumble back a bit with my eyes closed.

I shook my head before I opened my eyes to see a bunch of envelopes lightly falling to the ground around me like snow. I then noticed a grey pony sitting on the ground in front of me with a light brown mailbag over its head.

I then walked up to the pony. "Oh, sorry about that. Let me get that off!" I said before I grabbed the top of the bag with my mouth and pulled it off the pony's head. I then looked at the pony and I recognized her as Derpy who was looking at me….at least I think she was looking at me; it was hard to tell with those crossed-eyes.

I was slightly surprised to see her now; I've never seen her while I've been living here. I then hooked the handle of the mailbag onto my hoof so I could speak. "Oh, it's you….Derpy, right?" I asked.

Derpy then got back onto her hooves. "Yep, that's me…" she said before I gave her mailbag back to her. She then grabbed the handle with her mouth before she threw the handle over her head and it landed on her shoulder so she was wearing it right.

I smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you. I'm Matthew, I don't know if you've hear of-"

"Of cause I've heard of you, who hasn't?" Derpy interrupted. She then took my hoof in both of her's and shook it up and down really fast. "I can't believe I'm finally meeting you, I'm your biggest fan, Matthew."

I gave her a small smile. "Really? That's cool; you've got quite a grip." I said while looking down at her hooves still shaking mine.

"Oh, sorry." Derpy said before she released my hoof. "No problem, let me help you pick up these letters!" I said before I lowered my head down and started to pick up the fallen letters one by one.

Derpy smiled. "Wow, you're just as nice as they say you are."

I couldn't help but chuckle at her comment. "Well, I do try." I muffled while holding a few letters in my mouth. Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo started to help pick up the letters and place them into Derpy's bag. "There you go, Derpy. Sorry for the bump." I said.

Derpy just kept smiling. "That's ok; I hit my head on stuff lots of times." She said.

I then got an idea on how to help Derpy and the girls. "Hey Derpy, do you want help delivering those? The girls here want to earn their cutie marks in….well, pretty much anything."

Derpy then nodded. "Sure, that would be awesome."

I then turned my head to face the Crusaders with a smile. "What do you think, girls? Want to see if you can get cutie mark being mail-ponies?"

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then looked at each other with large smiles. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MAIL CALL, YAY." They yelled.

After that, I rubbed the inside of my left ear with my left hoof in slight pain. "I'll take that as a _yes_."

**Meanwhile: Library**

Twilight was lying on a cushion on the floor while using her magic to hover a book in front of her. While she was reading, Jeff and Peewee were playing chess on the table across the room.

The room was quiet, the only sounds that were heard was Twilight turning the ages of her book and the two birds moving their chess pieces. Jeff then looked over to Twilight. "Sooo…this is what you do all day? Sit around reading books?" he asked in a bored tone.

Twilight didn't take her eyes off the book. "….Yep…" she answered.

"You just study all day?...nothing else?" Jeff asked with the same tone.

"….Nope…" Twilight answered with her eyes still glued to the book.

Jeff then let out a bored sigh before he looked back at the chess board. "It's your move, Peewee." He said.

(Seeing how he was small.) Peewee walked onto the board and picked up one of his bishops and took one of Jeff's pieces; leaving Peewee with a smirk and Jeff wide-eyed. "That's a good move...I can't believe it, I'm losing to a baby bird." Jeff said out loud.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door that got all their attention. Twilight placed the book down, got up off the cushion and walked towards the door. Once she got there, she used her magic to open the door to reveal Rarity.

Twilight smiled. "Oh, hi Rarity. I'm surprised to see you here, what's up?"

Rarity had a slight nervous look on her face. "Well, there is something rather…._up_." she said as she walked through the doorway; passing Twilight.

Twilight then gave her a concerned look once she noticed the sound of her voice and closed the door. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

Rarity walked to the centre of the room and looked around. "Em, well there's nothing wrong per say. I'd just call it a curious thought."

Twilight raised her eye brow in confusion. "Oh? Well, can I help in any way?"

Rarity turned around to face her. "Oh no, I just need to see Spike. Is he here by any chance?"

Twilight shook her head slightly. "No, he went out to buy new scrolls. We keep running out for some reason and I don't know why."

Jeff then looked over to the two ponies. "Really Twilight? You don't know why? Are you bein' serious?" she said with a raised eye brow.

Twilight then looked over to him with a slightly irritated look. "Shouldn't you be focusing on your game?" she said. Jeff then groaned before he turned his attention back to the chess board in front of him.

Twilight then turned her attention back to Rarity. "Why do you want to see Spike?" she asked curiously.

Rarity then grew nervous. "I…err…I just wanted to know if he's….err…" Rarity was trying to think of something to say before she came up with something. "If he's going to accompany us at the Grand Galloping Gala." She said.

Twilight gave her a confused look. "Yeah, a cause he's going. He has a ticket, remember?"

Rarity then laughed nervously. "Oh, of cause. It's been bothering me all day, you see. I wouldn't want to leave the little sweetie here all alone, after all. But I feel better now that I know he's coming."

Twilight then came closer to her with a serious look. "That's not the only thing that was bothering you, is it?"

Rarity then looked at the ground before she let out a sigh; she then looked back up to Twilight with her ears slightly low. "Twilight, I want to tell you something, but you have to promise not to tell anypony!"

Twilight nodded. "Sure Rarity, I promise."

Rarity gave her a slight serious look. "Pinkie promise?"

Twilight nodded again. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She said as she covered her eye with one of her front hooves; without poking her eye this time.

Rarity then took a deep breath before she spoke. "I…I think I know who my secret admirer is. You know, the one who's been sending me all those gifts and poems."

Twilight then grew a large smile. "That's great Rarity, who is it? Is it somepony I know?" she asked.

Rarity's eyes went slightly wide. "Oh no, what do I tell her? I can't tell her I suspect Spike, she'll probably think that would be just weird. Calm yourself, Rarity! Just say something that won't give it away!" she thought as she started to sweat.

"Well….sort of, but that's just the point, I don't really know if this…errr…boy is my admirer, it's just a hunch that I have. I don't know what to do Twilight, should I wait for him to tell me up front? Or ask him myself? Because if I do ask him and he says he's not my admirer, not only will it embarrass me, it'll embarrass poor little Spi-….I mean, the poor dear also. Oh Twilight, what ever should I do?" Rarity asked; hoping Twilight didn't hear her almost say Spike's name.

Twilight thought about it for a moment before she spoke. "Well, I think you should give it a shot and ask him. But if you're really unsure, maybe you should wait a little longer until you have enough evidence that proves he's your admirer."

Rarity then walked over to the table that Jeff and Peewee were on and looked down at their game. "Hmm…maybe I should do that; I wouldn't want to go jumping to conclusions about something like this."

Twilight gave her a small smile. "Exactly, and don't worry! I'm sure the truth will come eventually. And who knows, maybe he'll step up and tell you himself." She said hoping to make it easier for her.

Rarity then turned her head around to face her. "You're absolutely right, Twilight. I just need to be patient until I find out for sure who he is, or until he tells me himself. Either way, I'll find out who he is."

Rarity then looked back down at Jeff and Peewee's chess board before her horn glowed and one of Peewee's pieces moved to a different square. "Check-mate." She said with a giggly smile before she trotted towards the front door; leaving Peewee with a joyed smile and Jeff with his beak hanging wide.

"Thank you ever so much, Twilight. I feel much better now." Rarity said as she trotted out the doorway and into the streets.

Twilight then walked over to the doorway and watched Rarity go. "You're welcome." She called as she watched Rarity disappear into the streets. "I guess." she said to herself with a raised eye brow before she used her magic to close the door.

As Twilight walked back over to her cushion to continue reading her book, Jeff was still stunned by his sudden loss. "How the hay did this happen?" He asked out loud.

Peewee chuckled. "Guess I was just lucky, huh?"

"But you didn't make the move; it was…." Jeff then decided to give it up and admit defeat "Ah, to heck with it! Chess is a dull game anyway, let's play something else!" he groaned with his wings crossed.

Twilight heard this and giggled silently in amusement before she used her magic to turn to the next page of her book.

**Meanwhile: Fluttershy's cottage**

After Derpy had gotten us all our own mailbags and delivered a few letters to a small number of houses, Me, Derpy and the Crusaders approached Fluttershy's cottage.

Once we got close enough, we all stopped and Derpy shoved her head into her mailbag and pulled out a few letters in her mouth. She then walked across the bridge and up to the cottage. "Hey Derpy, wait up! I might as well see Fluttershy while we're here." I said before I looked down at the Crusaders. "You three stay here! I'll be back in a minute." I said before I followed Derpy.

The Crusaders the sat down on the ground and each of them let out a big sigh. "Oh, this is so boring." Scootaloo moaned.

Applebloom looked over to her. "I know, remember when I once said I would do anythin' to get my cutie mark? Well I take that back now."

"Come on girls, it's not that bad. Sure, it's not the most interesting thing in the world, but it's better than sitting around doing nothing." Sweetie Belle stated.

"But we _are_ sittin' around doin' nothin', how are we supposed to earn our cutie marks like this?" Applebloom asked.

Sweetie Belle then lowered her head and shook her mailbag off her body. Once it fell off, she looked down at it. "Maybe we can go to the other houses and deliver their letters while Matt and Derpy finish up here." She suggested.

Scootaloo then nodded. "Yeah, let's do that! If we're gonna earn our cutie marks, we have to do things ourselves." She said before she and Applebloom lowered their heads and their mailbags fell to the ground as well. They each then shoved their faces into their bags and searched around in them.

Meanwhile, Derpy opened Fluttershy's mailbox with her hoof before she placed the letters inside and closed the mailbox, she then pushed her hoof on the mailbox flag until it was pointing upwards. Once she was done with that, I then walked up to the door of Fluttershy's cottage and knocked on it.

After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal Fluttershy, she then smiled once she saw it was me. "Hello Matt, what brings you by?" she asked kindly.

I then smiled back. "Nothing, just thought I'd say hi while dropping off your mail."

Fluttershy then looked over to her mailbox to see the mail flag up and Derpy standing next to it. "Hi Fluttershy." Derpy said as she waved her hoof.

Fluttershy then looked back to me with a raised eye brow. "But Matt, I thought you delivered supplies for Applejack." She then gasped slightly before she gave me a concerned look. "Oh no, did you get fired? Did you quit? What happened?"

I chuckled slightly. "Fluttershy, calm down! I didn't get fired and I didn't quit, I still work for Applejack. I'm just helping Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo earn their cutie marks by delivering mail."

Once Fluttershy heard those names, she giggled slightly. "Well, you'd better be careful! Those girls can be quite the hoof full. Believe me!"

While I was talking to Fluttershy, the Crusaders were still looking through their bags. "Find any letters for the next house, Applebloom?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"No, keep lookin'!" Applebloom responded before she went back to digging through her mailbag.

"Ah-ha." Scootaloo said before she pulled her head out of her bag with a letter in her mouth. "Found one." She muffled. Just then, the wind blew hard and the letter slipped out of her mouth and blew away in the wind.

Applebloom and Sweetie Belle tried to catch it, but they weren't fast enough. "Hey, get back her, you!" Applebloom called before she, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo chased after it. The letter was blown past Fluttershy's chicken pen and straight into the Ever Free Forest. And without hesitation, the girls went in after it.

Meanwhile, I was still with Fluttershy. "So you haven't had any problems with the girls yet?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

I shook my head. "Nope, no problem at all. I know the girls can sometimes be a hoof full, but today they're being little angels." I said.

I then turned my head around and looked across the bridge, only to see that the girls were gone. "Oh, where'd the little monsters go now?" I yelled in frustrated tone.

Fluttershy then looked at the spot I was looking at. "Where are they?" she asked in a worried tone.

"I don't know, they were there a minute ago." I answered.

"Err; is this a bad time to tell you that I saw the girls chase one of the letters into the Ever Free Forest?" Derpy said.

"THEY WHAT?" me and Fluttershy yelled in shock. "Derpy, why didn't you say anything sooner?" I asked.

"I didn't want to be rude." Derpy answered.

I then face-hooved myself before I looked back at Fluttershy. "I have to go after them before something bad happens to them, stay here in case they come back!" i said to her, Fluttershy then nodded.

I then turned my head to face Derpy. "Derpy, you stay here and….be Derpy!" I said before she nodded, I still couldn't tell if she was looking at me with those crossed eyes of hers.

I then quickly turned around and galloped away, I galloped across the bridge and headed towards the chicken pen were the path to the forest was. "Be careful, Matt! The forest is really dangerous." I heard Fluttershy call out.

I turned my head around while I was continuing to gallop forward. "I'm always careful." I called back with a smirk, but my words were proven wrong when I accidently galloped into a small tree. "I'm ok." I said in a daze.

I then shook off the daze and galloped around the tree, past the chicken pen and up to the entrance of the Ever Free Forest. I looked at the forest in awe before I took a deep breath and galloped into the darkness.

**Later: inside the Ever Free Forest**

Even in the day, it was dark inside the Ever Free Forest. I'm not going to lie; I was creeped out by not only the darkness, but the weird sounds. I heard twigs snap even though there wasn't any in my path, owl's hooting and what sounded like moaning in the wind. I was also stunned by the trees, the hollows formed faces. It was as if they were watching me, this truly was the most terrifying place in Ponyville.

But that wasn't going to stop me from bring the girls home safely. I spent what felt like an hour searching for the Crusaders but I didn't find any sign of them, I was starting to fear the worst.

I tried shouting their names but I didn't get any response. "Oh this is bad, this is very bad. I can't find them anywhere. I wish there was an easier way to do this." I thought. At that moment, I realized something. "Duh, I'm a Pegasus; I'll just fly above the forest to look for them." I said to myself.

I then flapped my wings and took off into the air. Once high enough, I flew along above the forest while looking down at it to see if I could find the girls. After a few minutes, still nothing.

Just then, I saw what looked like a hut up ahead. I figured it must be Zecora's hut, seeing how she's the only one who lives in this forest. I then flew down to it and landed in front of the window. I looked through it and I was relieved to see Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo inside.

I then galloped over to the front door and burst through it; surprising the girls and Zecora. "This gets old more and more, for ponies keep bursting through my door." She said.

I ignored he comment and walked up to the girls. "Girls, are you alright? Are you hurt in anyway?" I asked in concern.

Applebloom looked at me in confusion. "No, we're fine. What's got you so huffed up?"

I then exhaled in relief. "All of you do me a favour, never do that again! You all had me worried sick." I said in a firm voice.

The girls then hung their heads in sadness. "We're sorry, Matt." Applebloom said. "Yeah, sorry." Scootaloo added.

"We were trying to catch a letter that blew away in the wind but….we kinda lost it." Sweetie Belle said.

"Not to mention, we lost our way back to town. But I knew how to find Zecora's place, so we all came here until somepony came lookin' for us." Applebloom explained.

After hearing this, I calmed down and shook my head. I then smiled before I sat down and opened my arms to let the girls in for a hug, the girls then gave me small smiles before they walked up to me and we all shared a warm group hug. "I'm just glad you're all safe." I said calmly.

We then broke the hug and Zecora walked up to us, she then looked at me as if she was examining my face. "My dear pony, you gave me such a fright. For you are not a familiar sight." She said to me.

I then realized what she meant and I smiled sheepishly. "Oh, sorry if I startled you when I barged in like that." I then stuck my hoof out to her. "I'm Matthew, but most ponies call me Matt."

Zecora didn't shake my hoof; instead a small smile grew on her face. "Your name is Matthew, you say? Oh, how long I've waited for this day."

I then placed my hoof back on the floor. "What? You've heard of me too?" I asked in surprise.

Zecora nodded slightly. "Your victory in Canterlot is very well known, when you stopped the evil Thorn from stealing the royal throne. For it was that night which began your fame, despite the fact of your weird name."

Once I heard that, I narrowed my eyes in annoyance. "Great, now even Zecora's saying that." I thought. I then forgot about that and calmed myself down before I spoke. "Well, I was just doing what was right." I then looked out of the window and noticed the sun going lower; I then turned my head around to face the Crusaders. "It's getting dark; we'd better head back to town."

Zecora then nodded in agreement. "Yes, it's time for you to head home. For it is at night when the dangerous creatures roam."

I then walked towards the door with Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo following behind. "See ya, Zecora. You should come into town some time." Applebloom said as we left the hut.

As we walked away, Zecora walked up to her doorway to see us off. "Remember, young fillies. To earn your cutie mark, you must take things slow and steady. Then you will get your marks when you are ready."

"We will…" the girls groaned before I stopped in front of them.

I then lowered my body down to them. "We'll get there faster if I fly us there, climb on my back!" I said before the girls climbed onto my back and I took off into the skies above the trees with Zecora waving us goodbye.

**Streets of Ponyville**

After a short flight, I landed back in Ponyville and the Crusaders climbed off my back. I then looked down at them with a serious look. "Now girls, I don't want you doing that again, you could have gotten yourselves hurt. What would I do if that happened?"

"We know, Matt. And we're mighty sorry; we promise we won't go into the forest unless we have somepony with us." Applebloom said.

I then gave her a proud smile and ruffled the top of her head with my hoof. "Good, now I think it's time we all call it a day."

Applebloom and Scootaloo then let out small sighs before they nodded in agreement. Just then, they heard a groan from Sweetie Belle. I looked over to her to see she had a sickly look on her face with her arms wrapped around her stomach. "Sweetie Belle, are you alright?" I asked in concern.

She looked up at me. "I…I think those bad cupcakes are…coming back on me." she answered weakly before she placed her left hoof over her mouth.

I then walked up to her. "That ain't good. Come on, Sweetie! I'll take you to Rarity's." I said before I lowered myself down to let Sweetie Belle climb on my back. Once she was on, I carefully started making my way to Rarity's boutique with Applebloom and Scootaloo following behind.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot Castle**

Celestia was in the ballroom watching her maids put up decorations for the Grand Galloping Gala. Just then, Luna walked in and sat beside her sister. "You wanted to see me, Sister?"

Celestia looked down at her with a smile. "Yes, I wanted to ask you if you would join us at the Gala this year."

Luna was slightly surprised by this offer. "You want me to come?...well…I'm not sure."

"It would mean a lot to me if you came. Everypony's excited about it, even Twilight, Matthew and their friends are excited about coming." Celestia said.

Once Luna heard what she said, her eyes widened slightly. "Matthew? You mean...he's coming to the Gala?"

Celestia nodded, Luna secretly grew excited but her face didn't show it. She then smiled up at Celestia. "You know, maybe I will come. Seeing is how they're all going to be here, I might as well join them, it'll be like a friend reunion."

Celestia's smile grew. "That's great news, Luna. I look forward to seeing you here."

"Yes…well, I must go. I have to raise the moon before it gets too late." Luna said as she backed away towards the door while Celestia continued to watch her maids decorate.

As Luna walked down the long hallway, she couldn't help but smile in excitement. "This is wonderful; Matthew's going to the Gala. It'll be the perfect place to tell him how I feel." She thought as she trotted down towards the castle lobby.

**That night: Library**

After taking Sweetie Belle to Rarity's place and escorting Scootaloo and Applebloom back to their homes, I got back to the library and I was beyond ready for bed.

I went up the stairs to see Spike in his basket and Twilight sleeping on our bed; I quietly walked up to the bed and got in under the covers beside Twilight. At that moment, she slowly opened her eyes and saw me next to her. "Where have you been all day?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

"Hmm…you know…helping the girls get their cutie marks, no luck by the way….met Zecora for the first time….cooked with Pinkie Pie." I said with my eyes closed as I tried to sleep.

Twilight closed her eyes again and yawned. "That sounds good…what else did you do?" she asked as she slowly drifted back to sleep.

As I started drifting to sleep as well, I thought about what else I did today and a shocking fact hit me like a lightning bolt and my eyes shot wide open. "Holy crap, I forgot Derpy." I said out loud.

**Meanwhile: Fluttershy's cottage**

Derpy was still sitting beside Fluttershy's mailbox waiting for me to come back; she then looked left and right. "Matt?...girls?...anypony?" she called.

Just then, Fluttershy opened her door to see Derpy. She let out a large yawn before she spoke. "Derpy, what are you still doing here? It's the middle of the night."

Derpy then turned her head it face her. "Waiting for Matt to come back." She answered.

Fluttershy then raised her eye row in confusion. "But…Matt's probably gone home by…." She then decided to not try and she let out a small sight. "Would you like to spend the night here, Derpy?"

Derpy then grew a large smile. "Yeah, that'd be great." She said before she trotted past Fluttershy and into her cottage. Fluttershy then let out another sigh before she gently closed her front door and went back to bed with Derpy as her guest.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Note to readers: Hey everypony, I'm gonna make a contest for all of you. Whoever sends my 205****th**** review, they will win the right to know what the next villain song will be. Guest reviews can't win because quests don't have profiles so I can't send PM's or reply to their reviews, so sorry to the guest readers. Good luck.**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon. If not soon, then the 25****th**** of September. Depends on how quick it's done.**


	29. Chapter 29: At the Gala

**Hey everypony, guess what! It's the 25th of September and It's my Birthday today :D **

**I'm now 17, somepony call Pinkie Pie! XD**

**I've managed to get this chapter done in time for this day, I'm glad too.**

**I had to change some of the lyrics in both of the songs I used in this chapter so they would match the story.**

**This is the first chapter in the story to have 2 songs.**

**Warning: Long chapter.**

Chapter 29: At the Gala

It's been a weak since I assisted the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and it was finally time for the Grand Galloping Gala.

Of cause, I had to apologize to Derpy for what happened. But she said she wasn't upset with me and was still my biggest fan.

**Road towards Canterlot **

It was a cool night; the cloudless sky was filled with bright stars and Luna's full moon shined down on us.

Twilight had used her magic to make a carriage out of an apple, and Rarity had no problem using her charm to persuade two colts to pull the carriage for us.

I was sitting in the carriage with Twilight and the rest of the main 6. I was wearing the same tuxedo that I wore to the Ponyville dance, and Twilight and the others were wearing their original Gala dresses. And if I may say, they all looked stunningly beautiful, especially Twilight.

Peewee was sitting beside me and he was wearing a small black bow tie, Jeff was wearing a black bow tie as well but he was outside with Spike.

Spike was wearing a tuxedo as well; he was once again outside sitting on the driver's seat as our coachman, or in this case a coach-dragon. Jeff was sitting beside him, but they kept arguing over who should drive; which eventually lead to the two fighting, but we just ignored it.

I had what I bought for Twilight hidden in my tux pocket, I quietly patted it with my hoof as I listened to Twilight and the others talk about the Gala.

"This is gonna be so much fun." Pinkie Pie said with excitement.

"Yeah, but I hope this goes better than last time. I didn't sell much back then; all I sold was an apple-pie and two apple-fritters." Applejack stated.

Rarity gave her an honest smile. "Not to worry, Applejack. We'll each bye something from your stand when we're ready. Right?" she said before we all nodded.

"Well, I know my time here will go better. Since the race in Cloudsdale, I've become more connected with the Wonderbolts. They're bound to hang out with me this year." Rainbow Dash said.

"And I'm sure the Princess will find some time for us to spend together. We never got to talk much last time." Twilight added.

As the girls talked amongst themselves, I was staying quiet while feeling nervous about my plans with Twilight. "How am I gonna do this? We'll have to go somewhere private so we can be alone, of course. But it's _how_ I'm gonna get her alone which is the problem, she'll probably want to spend some time with Celestia first. I'll have to wait for the right time, I guess." I thought.

Suddenly, I felt the carriage come to a stop; meaning we had arrived at Canterlot. The carriage door opened; revealing Spike behind it before he stepped aside to let us out, Jeff was on his shoulder. Twilight and the others were the first to exit the carriage before I followed with Peewee on my back.

Once I was out of the carriage, I looked at the castle as fireworks shot out from the roofs and exploded high in the sky. "Whow, this is even better than how it was in the show." I said quietly to myself.

Applejack then started walking down the path towards the castle before she looked back at us. "Come on, ya'all! We got a party to get to." She said in an excited tone before she continued walking.

Everypony began to follow her accept for Twilight; I walked up beside Twilight and she turned her head to see the smirk on my face. "Shall we?" I said.

Twilight then giggled slightly. "We shall." She said before we both followed the others by each other's side.

**Canterlot ****castle grounds **

As Twilight and I walked through the main gates of the castle, we saw that Rover, Fido and Spot were standing beside the front double doors of the castle. They apparently were in charge of checking the tickets before anypony entered, they were each wearing a red bell-hop hat and I couldn't help but snicker at the sight of them.

The rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff and Peewee give their tickets to Rover and they walked inside the castle. Me and Twilight then walked up to Rover before he looked down at me with a raised eye brow. "Oh, it's you again."

"Yeah, it's me." I said before I looked up at his hat. "Hey nice hat, you like a douche." I said with a smirk.

Rover then gave me a small glare as he crossed him arms. "Nice tux, you look like a penguin."

I narrowed my eyes at him once I heard that. "Touché." I commented. We then gave Rover our tickets and he let us pass into the castle.

"Why are we wearing these things again?" Spot asked as he pointed up to his hat.

"Lord Discord says we're supposed to look fancy." Rover groaned in annoyance before he returned his focus back to his duty.

**Meanwhile: Luna's room in the castle**

In one of the high towers of the castle, Luna was in her room. When Luna would have to stay the night in Canterlot, she would sleep in the quest rooms that Celestia kept just for her. It was Luna's own personal room at the castle.

Luna was standing in front of a large round mirror that hung up on the wall while using her magic to levitate a different dress on each side of her. One of them was a glittery dark blue dress, while the other was a glittery gold dress.

She hovered the dark blue dress in front of her and looked in the mirror to see how she would look in it; she then moved it aside and hovered the gold dress in front of her. "Which one? Which one?" she said out loud to herself.

"Well, I never thought I'd see something like this." A voice said behind Luna which caused her to drop the dresses; she turned around to see Celestia standing by the doorway.

Luna grew slightly worried that she had been there the whole time she was getting ready. "Sister…err…how long have you been standing there?" she asked.

Celestia grinned before she walked up to Luna. "Long enough….I must say sister, there have been many Galas in the past and I've never seen you this eager to attend one. Why is this one so special that you must dress up for it? Is there something about it you're not telling me?" she asked with the grin still on her face.

Luna then became nervous and blushed as she started to sweat slightly. "Well…I just feel that I should look my best for tonight, I didn't attend most of the Galas in the past and I want to make a good impression for my subjects." She said hoping Celestia would believe her.

Celestia's grin then turned into a warm smile. "Well then, I shouldn't keep you distracted. I'll leave you to get ready." She said before she turned around and walked towards the door. Once she reached the door way, she looked back at Luna.

"I'll see you down in the Ballroom." Celestia said before she walked out the room and used her magic to close the door behind her; leaving Luna alone in the room.

Luna then exhaled in relief that Celestia didn't figure out why she really wanted to dress up for the Gala, she looked back at her mirror before she used her magic to levitate the glittery dark blue dress up off the floor and hover it in front of her. She looked at herself closely and was finally satisfied.

"I hope Matthew likes this one." She said to herself before she walked behind the moveable screen next to her mirror, so she could get dressed without being seen by anypony who might enter her room unannounced.

**Meanwhile: Castle lobby**

Me and Twilight entered the lobby to see the room had a bunch of high-class ponies in fancy outfits wondering around and talking to each other, Me and Twilight then walked up to the long set of stairs and looked up to see Celestia standing at the very top of them. We then walked up to her to greet her.

Once Celestia noticed us, she smiled in delight. "Twilight, Matthew, I'm so glad you both could make it."

I then smiled back. "It's nice to see you too, Princess. We've been looking forward to this night for some time."

"I hope we get some time to catch up of things, Princess. We never got the chance to talk last time." Twilight said.

Celestia giggled as the memories of that night came back to her. "Not to worry, Twilight. I'm sure we'll get to talk once I've finished greeting the other guests." She said before she looked around the room.

She then looked back down at us with a raised eye brow. "Where are all your friends? I hope they made it."

I then raised my hoof up. "Don't worry, Princess. They're around somewhere."

Celestia's smile then returned. "Wonderful, I hope you can all liven up the place like last time."

I then grinned. "Oh, I have something that'll do that. But it'll have to wait until later." I said before Celestia nodded, I Then looked around the room. "Speaking of guys who can liven things up, where's Discord?" I asked.

"….I don't really know, I haven't seen him since earlier today." Celestia said. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and Discord appeared beside Celestia.

"No need to worry, I'm here." Discord said, he was wearing a black tuxedo coat and a black bow tie like I was.

"Hello Discord, we haven't seen you in some time, how've you been?" Twilight asked.

Discord smiled down at me. "I've been great; those Diamond Dogs have proven to be very helpful assistance. Thanks to that whole _worshiping me_ thing, they'll do anything I ask."

"That's cool, Discord! Anyway, we should go see what the others are up to, we'll see you two later." I said before Twilight and I walked back down the stairs and out into the gardens.

Once we were gone, Discord turned his head to face Celestia with a smirk. "So Celestia, would you like to explore the Gala a bit? I'll be more than happy to be your escort" he said.

"I can't, Discord. I have to stay here and greet the guests." Celestia said.

Discord then gave her an honest smile. "Oh come on, Celestia! You work so hard every day, you deserve a night to have fun."

"I'm not sure, Discord. What about the rest of the guests? They'll be expecting someone to greet them when they come in." Celestia said.

Discord then grinned. "Not to worry, I've got that covered." He then snapped his fingers and Spot appeared in a flash of light.

Spot looked around in confusion. "Wha-…how'd I get here?" he asked.

Spot then noticed Discord in front of him. "Spot, I have a very important task for you." he then pointed to where Celestia was standing with his lion hand. "I want you to stand in that very spot. When a new guest comes up the stairs, shake their hoof and politely say hello! Can you do that?" he asked as he crossed his arms.

Spot then saluted up to Discord. "Yes, Lord Discord. I will stand here all night if I have to."

Celestia then rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Well…if he can handle it, then I guess there's no harm in finishing early." She then placed her hoof back on the floor. "Very well, Discord! I'll join you in the Gala."

"Wonderful." Discord cheered before he and Celestia went down the stairs side-by-side; leaving Spot at the top of the stairs.

At that moment, two high-class ponies walked up the stairs and approached Spot. The male high-class pony then held his hoof out before Spot grabbed it and shook it. "Hello." He said as a green fog flowed out of his mouth.

The high-class ponies the sniffed the air and gagged in sickness before they galloped back down the stairs.

Spot was confused until he breathed on his hand and sniffed it. "Well…that solves _that_ mystery." He said to himself.

**Meanwhile: Castle gardens**

Me and Twilight had found Rarity, Spike, Jeff, Peewee and Applejack in the gardens. Like last time, Applejack was standing behind her apple booth. We had already joined up with them and Jeff was on my back while Peewee was on Spike's shoulder.

"So Applejack, is your sale going better than last time?" Twilight asked.

Applejack nodded. "Yep, I've already sold two apple-fritters, one apple-pie and one apple-dumplin'. I don't know why, but I'm doin' so much better this year." She said with joy.

I smiled at her. "Good for you, Applejack! By the way, can I have one of those bottles of apple-juice?" I asked. I don't normally drink apple-juice, but there wasn't really much to drink and I wanted to help Applejack.

"'cause ya can, Matt. That'll be two bits." Applejack said. I then reach my snout into my pocket and pull out two coins in my mouth, I then placed them in the wooden bucket beside the booth and Applejack gave me a yellow glass bottle with a picture of an apple on it.

I managed to get the cap off before I placed my mouth around the top of the bottle and tilted my head up; causing the juice inside to pour into my mouth and down my throat, I continued to do this until the bottle was empty.

Once the bottle was empty, I place it on the ground before took my mouth of the bottle head and tasted the flavour.

After a second, I realised that it actually tasted good. I smiled in amazement. "Hmm…that was kinda good." I said.

"Well I'm glad ya liked it, Matt." Applejack said with a smile.

While we were talking, Rarity looked down at Spike beside her. "Alright, Twilight said that I should ask him whether or not he's my admirer…even though she still has no idea that I suspect Spike. Maybe this is the best time to ask him, but should I ask him up front? I should probably steer the answer out of him somehow." She thought.

"Emm…So Spike, what have you been up to lately? I mean, I haven't seen you since you ran out of my shop in a hurry." Rarity said hoping he wouldn't grow suspicious of her question.

Spike then looked up at her and became stunned in what to say. Lately he was secretly working on a new poem for her. But he couldn't say that, because then she would know that he was her admirer. "I've…err…I've been…err…"

Jeff then noticed his situation and grew a devious grin; he then flew down and landed beside Spike. "Go on, Spike. Tell the lovely lady what you've been doin'." he said tapping his elbow into Spike's arm.

Spike then turned his head to Jeff and gave him a small glare, he then turned his attention back to Rarity. "Well…I've been doing a lot of things…things like…errr."

As Spike was beginning to sweat, Rarity was still waiting for an answer. I then also noticed Spike's situation and thought of a way to steal Rarity's attention. "Hey, Rarity." I quickly said; gaining her attention.

I opened my mouth to say something before I got stumped. "Oh crap, now what do I say?" I thought.

I then came up with something. "Hey err…you know who I really hope isn't here?...those two high-class ponies we met when we were staying in the castle. What were their names again?" I said before I started tapping my head with my hoof as I thought hard.

After a second, their names returned to me. "Jet Set and Uppercrust, that was their names." I said to Rarity.

Rarity then nodded in agreement. "Oh yes, even though I respect their high society ways, I too hope they're not here. We could do without their criticism ruining our night." She said.

Just then, Rarity's eyes widened as she gasped loudly, I was confused by this until I turned my head around to see what she was looking at. I was then surprised to see Prince Blueblood walking towards us with his eyes closed and his nose up, I was already sick just looking at him.

"Speaking of ponies we don't like." I groaned; causing Twilight and the others to become curious before they then turned around to also see Blueblood.

I then looked back to Rarity to see her turn her face away with her nose up high and her eyes closed. "Just ignore him!...and maybe he'll go away." She said.

Anger boiled inside Spike as he glared at Blueblood while Jeff looked at him with a raised eye brow. "Who's _this_ Yahoo?"

I looked down at Jeff. "That's Prince Blueblood, he's Celestia's nephew. Except he's nothing like her, he's rude and spoiled. To put it in better words, he's a complete asshole." I said before I turned my attention back on Blueblood.

"Oh." Was Jeff's only response before he continued to watch Blueblood come closer.

Blueblood then stopped beside us and observed Applejack's booth. "Oh, is this waggon of peasant food here _again_? The Gala is certainly going downhill." He said; causing Applejack the grit her teeth while giving him a hatful look.

Blueblood then noticed Rarity with her head faced away from him, but he didn't turn his head away from her. "Miss Rarity!" He greeted maturely.

"….Prince Blueblood!..." Rarity greeted back with her head still facing away from him.

We all just watched as Blueblood walked up in front of Rarity. "Miss Rarity, I would just want to apologize for what happened last year." He said.

Rarity then grew curious of what he was saying and turned her head back forward to face him. "Oh?..."

I too was starting to grow curious. "I understand that there was some minor…behaviour…problems between us. But as mature ponies, I'm sure we can forget all about it and move on." Blueblood said.

Rarity then let out a small sigh as she looked down at the ground. "Well…I suppose, it _did_ happen a while ago."

"Is Blueblood actually apologizing to Rarity for how he treated her at the last Gala? I never thought I'd see him do something like this." I thought as I watched them.

"And I'm sure you didn't mean to allow your rudeness to ruin our night." Blueblood said.

"Like I said, _complete asshole_." I thought as my hatred for Blueblood returned and I gave him another sharp glare.

Twilight, Applejack, Jeff and Peewee had shocked looks on their faces, while Spike was grinding his teeth in anger with his fists clenched.

Once she heard what Blueblood said, Rarity's left eye twitched slightly before her stunned look turned into and angered one. "_My_ rudeness?..._MY_ RUDENESS? How in any way was I rude that night?" she yelled in anger.

"Well you _did_ yell at me before you got cake all over my newly groomed coat." Blueblood argued.

"Only because YOUR spoiled behaviour caused me to blow my fuse, especially when you used me as a shield and got cake all over my fabulous dress. Do you know how hard it was to clean this? If anypony was rude that night, it was you." Rarity snapped.

Blueblood gave her a slightly angered look. "Well, you wanted me to do things for _you_. Open doors, pay for peasant food, and other things. I'm royalty; you should do those things for _me_."

Rarity scoffed. "Well I never. You sire, Are the most spoiled, self-centred Prince I've ever had the misfortune to meet in all my life."

"And it's that type of attitude that proves you don't belong in Canterlot." Blueblood snapped.

We all gasped loudly at what we just heard, Rarity's angered look faded into a small frown. "W-What?"

"Canterlot ponies are civilised in high-society, _you_ are nothing like that. I've heard how you were once accepted as a popular pony, but I call that dumb-luck. If you ask me, you don't deserve to be a Canterlot pony at all." Blueblood stated.

Rarity just stood there in silence with a shocked look on her face. I couldn't stand by and watch this happen, so I walked up behind Blueblood. "Hey buddy! I was going to stay out of this, but you just crossed the line. Rarity's more of a Canterlot pony then you'll ever be." I said in a firm voice.

Blueblood turned his head around to look at me before he raised his eye brow. "I wasn't speaking to you."

"I don't care, Rarity's my friend and I'm not going to just stand by while you say all these horrible things to her." I said while still glaring at him.

Blueblood rolled his eyes. "I don't have time for this; I'm going away for some peace and quiet." He said before he walked away with his nose in the air.

"Dick!" I growled under my breath before I decided to forget about him and focused on Rarity, I looked at her to see her ears were down slightly.

I walked up to her and placed my hoof on her shoulder. "Hey…are you alright?..." I asked in a quiet voice.

Rarity didn't answer, Twilight then walked up to us. "Rarity?" she said in a concerned voice.

"I-I'm fine…can we please go inside to the Ballroom now?" Rarity asked.

Twilight gave her a sweet smile. "Of cause we can, come on!" she said sweetly as she walked up beside Rarity before they both walked away.

"Wait! I'll come with ya." I said before I grabbed my empty apple juices bottle in my mouth and followed them.

We all then headed towards the double-doors that lead inside to the Ballroom, I threw my empty bottle into a trash can along the way. Unknown to us, one of Rarity's glass slippers fell off her hoof and was left behind.

"Rarity looks mighty down, so I think I'll just wrap this up and join'em." Applejack said before she walked around to the front of her booth and kicked it with one of her front hooves, the booth then closed up until it became a box on wheel-stands.

Applejack then walked to one side of it and started to gently push it with her head as she followed us. Applejack then stopped and looked back at Spike, Jeff and Peewee. "Ya'all comin'?"

Spike put his hand up. "We'll catch up." he said with a small smile. Applejack then nodded before she continued to follow us while pushing her booth.

Jeff then looked at Spike with a confused look. "Soooo, why aren't we goin' with'em?" he asked.

Spike then looked over across the gardens to see Blueblood (who was talking to a group of high-class ponies) and glared sharply. "Because I want to have a word with a curtain spoiled Prince."

Jeff then went wide-eyed in shock. "Spike, don't do something you're gonna regret!"

Spike ignored Jeff as he started storming over to Blueblood, Jeff then grabbed Spike's tail in his wings in an attempt to stop him, but ended up being dragged along by the angered dragon.

"Spike, wait!...I understand that you're mad, but you're a small dude, and he's a big royal dude. Who knows what he's allowed to do to you." Jeff warned, soil piled up against his talons as he was being dragged.

Spike finally reached behind Blueblood and poked his finger into one of his hind-legs. "Hey, Prince guy." Spike said aggressively.

Blueblood then turned his head around and looked down at Spike; he then turned the rest of his body around to get a better angle. "Do I know you?"

"No, but I have a bone to pick with you. How dare you say all those terrible things to Rarity." Spike said while glaring up at him.

Meanwhile, Rarity came back into the gardens while looking at the ground. "Now, I must have left it somewhere." She said to herself.

Rarity then saw her glass slipper up ahead and she walked up to it. "Ah, here it is." She said before she slipped her hoof into the slipper. "How do these things keep falling off?" she asked herself.

At that moment, she heard voices from across the gardens and looked over to see Spike in front of Blueblood. "What is he doing?" she asked herself before she listened in on them.

"Little dragon, I don't know why you care so much for Miss Rarity. But if you ask me-" Blueblood said before he was interrupted by Spike.

"I wasn't asking you anything, and you're wrong about Rarity. I don't care who you are, or what you think of her. To me, she's the sweetest, kindest, most beautiful pony in all of Equestria, and she deserves to be a Canterlot pony more then you ever will. If she was my date for the Gala, I'd treat her like the princess she is. I'd do anything for her. I wouldn't treat her the way you did, and I certainly wouldn't use her as a shield to protect myself from incoming cake." Spike said in a firm voice.

Rarity was some-what touched by Spike's words and continued watching him stand up for her.

Blueblood gave Spike a slightly shocked look. "This is ridicules." He stated.

"No, what's ridicules is your behaviour towards other ponies besides yourself. You're a selfish, self-centred jerk, and a disgrace to Princes everywhere. Now, you're gonna go find Rarity and apologize to her!" Spike ordered.

"Who are you to order me to do something? I'm not afraid of you." Blueblood stated.

Spike crossed his arms. "Oh really, then maybe I should tell Princess Celestia about how you've been speaking to Rarity tonight. Remember? Your aunt."

Blueblood then started to pay attention to what Spike was saying. "Because you know, Rarity is friends with the Princess. I bet she wouldn't be happy when I tell her what you said to Rarity." Spike said with a devious smirk.

Blueblood then grew slightly frightened. "You…wouldn't actually do that…would you?" he asked.

Spike then tapped his chin. "Hmm…depends, are you gonna apologize to Rarity, and admit to her that she _does_ deserve to be a Canterlot pony if she wants to?"

Blueblood nodded. "V-Very well, I'll apologise to Miss Rarity when I see her again." he said in defeat before he let out a sigh. "Well played, dragon."

Spike smile in satisfaction. "I know." He said proudly before he turned around and walked away from Blueblood.

Jeff and Peewee then came up beside Spike. "Nice move, Spike. If only Rarity could see you now." Peewee said.

"Yeah, you rocked, dude. I didn't know you had it in ya to stand up to a Prince." Jeff added.

"Well, nopony upsets Rarity the way he did. I stood up to him for her." Spike said.

Peewee then flew up and landed on Spike's shoulder. "Well I'm proud of you; it takes a lot of guts to talk to a Prince like that. And I bet the others would be proud too."

Spike then gave him a small smile. "Yeah…anyway, we should join up with the others! They'll be wondering where we are." He said before he ran off towards the Ballroom with Peewee on his shoulder and Jeff flying behind.

As they left, Rarity stepped out from behind a bush (which she had been hiding behind to avoid being seen by Spike). She had a stunned look on her face as she watched Spike disappear into the castle.

"I…don't believe it…Spike just stood up for me against Prince Blueblood. He yelled right in his face, he could have gotten in a lot of trouble for that…and he was willing to take the punishment…for me?" Rarity said to herself.

A sweet smile then grew on Rarity's as she continued. "He said all those things about me…I've never heard anypony say such loving things about me before." Rarity's eyes then widened slightly.

"Then…it must be true, Spike _is_ my secret admirer..." Rarity said to herself as she became more stunned by this shocking fact. "I…I don't know what to do, should I tell him I know? Should I talk to him about it?" she asked to herself.

Rarity had no idea on what to do next; she had just learned that one of her closest friends has a crush on her. Sure she liked Spike, but she had never thought of him as anything more than a friend…until now. She didn't have anything wrong with Spike having a crush on her; it just seemed like a huge surprise for her. She then made her final decision.

"Maybe I should just…keep this to myself and see where it leads." She said to herself before she slowly walked towards the Ballroom while looking down at the ground in thought about what she was going to do next.

**Later: Castle Ballroom**

It got later into the night and Me, Twilight, the rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff and Peewee were all together in the Ballroom.

For some reason, Blueblood had apologized to Rarity for what he said before and was now somewhere else in the castle; which was good, because I didn't want to see that dick for the rest of the night.

There weren't many other ponies with us though. In fact, the Ballroom was half empty. I counted them all and there were only 19 other ponies in the room, they were all in small groups around the room so there was a large amount of space to walk around in.

Me, Twilight and the others were in different parts around the room.

Rainbow Dash had been invited to the VIP section to hang out with Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts. And as I could see, they were actually hanging out this time. Must have had something to do with the cloud race we were in.

Applejack decided to sell her supplies on a large empty table next to the refreshment tables on the other side of the room; she had already sold a few of her supplies, including another apple-pie to Soarin'….what is it with this guy and pie?

Pinkie Pie had been trying to do what she did last time, she was trying to make the other quests party like how we would back in Ponyville. This didn't approve to most of them.

After many failed attempts to get the animals to like her, Fluttershy decided to give up and join us. She felt as though she didn't have the chance to be with Twilight and the others last time, so this time she was going to spend the night with us.

Rarity was now feeling much better and she was enjoying herself. For some reason though, she kept staring down at Spike. She also quickly turned away every time he looked up at her.

After Rarity, Fluttershy, Spike and Peewee left, Me and Twilight were left alone in the centre of the room; Jeff was on Twilight's back.

As we looked around the Ballroom, there were many failure faces that we recognized in the room. Like Hoity Toity, Photo Finish, Sapphire Shores and Fancypants with Fleur de Lis by his side. We had already spoken to Fancypants and he was glad to see us again.

Twilight then looked over to the doorway that lead to the next and smiled in delight to see Celestia and Discord walk into the room. Twilight then started walking towards them before I noticed her walking away from me and I started following her.

Once we reached them, Celestia smiled down at us. "Well, I was wondering where you two disappeared too. How do you like the Gala so far?" she asked.

"It's great, Princess. It's going much better than last year." Twilight said with a large smile.

Discord snickered. "I bet it has, Celestia told me about what happen last year. I can't believe Fluttershy actually went crazy with anger because all the animals kept running away from her."

I chuckled. "Yeah, that was kinda crazy." I said.

Jeff looked at me with a raised eye brow. "Wait! Fluttershy went crazy here last year? Why doesn't anypony tell me these things?"

Jeff then walked up along Twilight's back until he was on top of her head. "Come on, Twi. Tell me what happened! And don't skip out on the details!" he said as he patted her head with his foot.

I just rolled my eyes. "Want me to get you some Punch, Twi?" I asked.

Twilight then turned her head to face me. "Oh Matt, you don't have to do that for me."

I smiled at her and held my hoof up. "No, it's alright, I'll get some." I said.

Twilight then gave me a sweet smile. "Well, ok then. I'll be waiting for you here."

As Twilight began to tell Jeff about what happened last year, I walked away from them to find the Punch bowl. After looking around the room for a minute, I saw the Punch bowl on the refreshment table next to Applejack's table.

As I walked up to the table, I saw Fluttershy talking to Applejack. But instead of focusing on them, I focused on the Punch bowl in front of me. It was made out of glass, the Punch inside was red and it had a metal ladle dipped in it.

I then pulled a glass cup towards me before I grabbed the handle of the ladle with my mouth and pulled it out of the bowl; creating ripples in the Punch filled bowl.

After I poured the small amount of Punch into the glass cup, I was about to put the ladle back before I looked into the bowl noticed something in the rippling water.

There was two bright red blurs in the water. As the ripples cleared, they were starting to come into focus. Once the ripples were gone, I saw that the two blurs were two glowing red eyes looking evilly at me.

"_Maaattheeew!_" a dark male voice said in a ghostly whisper.

I flinched back as I let out a small but loud yell of fright; causing the ladle to drop out of my mouth and onto the floor. My yell attracted the attention of some of the ponies in the room, including Applejack and Fluttershy. "Errr…you alright, sugar cube?" Applejack asked with a concerned look.

I looked at her for a quick moment before I looked back into the Punch bowl to see there was nothing there, the water was completely normal. "Emm…Matt?" I heard Fluttershy say.

I didn't take my eyes off the water. "Yeah, I'm fine…I thought I just saw….never mind." I said before I grabbed the small glass of Punch with one of my front hooves and managed to walk away on only three legs. Applejack and Fluttershy were still worried about me.

Once I saw Twilight up ahead, I noticed Spike and Peewee standing beside Twilight. They must have joined us while I was gone. I walked up to Twilight and held the drink out to her. "Here you go, Twi." I said with a smile.

Despite my smile, the thought of what I just saw haunted my mind. Those terrifying eyes, that dark voice, Maybe I was seeing things…I hope I was. The thought of it made me tremble in fright which made my arm tremble; causing me to shake the glass slightly.

Twilight turned her head to face me and looked down at her drink; she used her magic to take it before she noticed my hoof shaking. She then looked at me with a concerned look. "Matt, are you ok?" She asked.

I snapped out of my train of thought and nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm alright." I said.

Twilight raised her eye brow. "Then why are you sha-"

"Hey, so where's Luna? Is she joining us?" I quickly asked interrupting Twilight, also trying to change the subject.

Celestia looked around the room. "I know she's here, I just don't know where. I haven't seen her since I checked up on her in her room when the Gala started."

"I hope we see her soon, it's getting late." Twilight said.

At that moment, something caught Discord's eye and he turned his head to look across the room. His eyes widened slightly. "Err…you guys may want to see this." He said without taking his eyes away from whatever caught his eye.

Twilight, Celestia, Spike, Jeff and Peewee all turned their heads in the direction that Discord was facing and they gasped. I was curious about what they were looking at so I turned my head to see what all the fuss was about.

My eyes widened slightly to see Luna walking across the room towards us. She was wearing a dark blue glittery dress, her shoes were a brighter sliver, and her neck piece was also silver instead of black. (Much like Celestia's mane), the fringe of Luna's mane covered her left eye.

"She's….beautiful." Twilight said in awe.

"Yeah…she is." I said in agreement with my eyes wide at the sight of Luna.

Luna then finally reached us and Celestia stepped forward. "Luna, you look so beautiful." She said.

Luna gave her a warm smile. "Thank you, sister." She said before she looked over to me. "Matthew, what do you think?" she said as she showed off her dress.

"You look amazing, Luna. What's the occasion?" I asked.

Luna's eyes widened slightly as she became nervous. "What do I tell him? I can't say I dressed up tonight to impress him. Think Luna!" she thought before she came up with something.

"Err…the Gala, of cause. I just thought I'd dress for it…you don't mind, do you?" Luna asked as she nervously rubbed her left hoof against her right arm.

"Of cause not, I think that dress really suits you." I said with a warm smile; causing Luna to blush deeply.

As Luna was starting to settle in with the group, I heard a noise from across the room and I looked over to it to see Pinkie Pie doing what she did last year, she was lifting other ponies onto her back and tossing them into the air to try and get them into the party mood.

Discord saw this and he laughed. "Haha, oh Pinkie Pie, you always know how to crack me up. Hahaha." He laughed while holding his stomach.

Discord then calmed down and looked down at us. "At least _somepony_ is trying to make this Gala more interesting. No offence, but this party is really dull. I mean, just listen to the music!"

We all took his word and listened to the music being played by the musicians on the large stage on the other side of the room, they were playing fancy high-class music. "Not that I have a _huge_ problem with it, but it could be a little better and livelier." Discord stated as he crossed his arms.

Celestia took a moment to think before she leaned her head closer to Discord. "Agreed." She whispered to him before she pulled her head back.

At that moment, Celestia looked down at me and a grin grew on her face, she the lowered her head down to me. "You know, Matthew. This could be a good time to…_liven_ things up a bit." she said in a sly voice.

"Twilight once sent me a letter saying that you had something planned to do so." Celestia said.

I then smirked up at her. "Oh we have something planned, but it depends on when you want us to do it."

"Well, now's good." Celestia said while smirking back.

I then looked over to Jeff who was still on Twilight's back and we both grinned at each other, I then looked down at Spike. "Ready, Spike?" I asked.

Spike nodded. "You bet." He answered. Jeff then flew onto my back before we all made our way towards the stage. Twilight, Luna, Peewee, Celestia and Discord watched us in wonder as we walked away.

Once we got to the stage, we climbed onto it and I saw the musician pony who I recognized as Octavia playing her Cello. I then walked up to her and she noticed me, she stopped playing as I whispered in her ear. "Hey, can we borrow the stage for a minute?" I asked politely.

Octavia then looked at me for a moment before she nodded, she and all the other musicians then walked off the stage with their instalments before I walked up to the microphone on a stand.

I then tapped it with my hoof; causing a loud betting noise which attracted the attention of the rest of the main 6 and every high-class pony in the room, Rainbow Dash even took interest and came out from the VIP section to see what was going on.

She and the rest of the main 6 all gathered up with Twilight, Luna and the others as they all watched us on stage with wonder.

Jeff then flew up onto my head and leaded his head towards the mike. "Alright everypony, listen up! We're gonna liven things up a bit to get this party really started." He announced. The high-class ponies watched us with wide eyes while Twilight and the others watched us with interest.

Spike the found a Bongo-drum set and pulled it closer to him before he started beating them in a rhythm with his hands. I heard this and I instantly knew we were about to start. "Alright everypony…let's get this party STARTED!" I yelled.

"Party in the Ipanema, baby." Jeff said before Spike beat his Bongos harder and we started to sing.

**Jeff: **_"I wanna party….I wanna samba…_

_I wanna party….I wanna samba…_

_I wanna party….and live my life." _**Me: **_**"**__My life."_

**Jeff: **_"I wanna party." _**Me: **_"Party."_

**Me and Jeff: **_"And flyyyyyy."_

Twilight and the others grew small smiles of excitement as they listened to us.

**Jeff: **_"I'm gonna fly, fly just like a bird."_

**Me: **_"But you are a bird."_

**Jeff: **_"Oh yeah, you're right, so let me fly just like a rocket, then. (OK)"_

**Me: **_"Fly so high where I need to come down for oxygen. (HEY)"_

**Jeff: **_"'Cause once we started, baby. Ain't no, ain't no stoppin' then. (HEY)"_

Discord was too focused on the music to notice that his dragon foot was tapping along with the beat.

**Me: **_"'Cause I just wanna live my life and party. (HEY)"_

**Jeff: **_"All I want is to be free and rock my body. (OK)"_

**Me: **_"Been around the world, and I wanna live my life….in Ponyville….'cause in Ponyville….in Ponyville I realize."_

**Me and Jeff:**_ "I wanna party. (PARTY) _

_I wanna samba. (PARTY)_

_I wanna party (PARTY)_

_And flyyyyyy."_

Suddenly, Discord started to dance uncontrollably; causing him to become slightly confused and worried. Celestia saw this and let out a small laugh. "Discord, what are you doing?"

"I have no idea, what sorcery is this?" Discord asked as his body continued to dance. As he did, Celestia watched him and an impressed smile grew on her face.

"Discord you're….actually not bad….in fact, you're rather good." Celestia said as she eyed Discord's dance moves.

**Jeff: **_"I that samba, samba master, master, master, master, master_

_Push out sound from a ghetto blaster, blaster, blaster, blaster, blaster_

_You dance fast, but I dance faster, faster, faster, faster, faster_

_You too slow, you need to catch up, you can dance and dance."_

Celestia's smile then grew as she joined in with Discord and started dancing gracefully along with the music; Discord saw this and was slightly surprised by her sudden actions. His surprise faded as he smiled and continued dancing.

Soon Celestia and Discord were dancing together; causing Twilight and Luna to watch them wide-eyed with astonishment.

**Me and Jeff: **_"I wanna party (PARTY)_

_I wanna samba (PARTY)_

_I wanna party (PARTY)_

_I wanna samba (PARTY)_

_I wanna party (PARTY)_

_And live my life (MY LIFE)_

_I wanna party (PARTY)_

_And flyyyyyy." _

As we stopped singing for a moment, Celestia and Discord started dancing faster until Celestia jumped up into the air and slowly flapped her wings to keep herself hovering in mid-air. Once she was in the air, she started singing her own verses.

**Celestia: **_"Fly-ya-la-ya-la-ya-la-yaaaaaaah_

_Fly-ya-la-ya-la-ya-la-ya-la-ya-la-ya-la-ya-la-yaaa aaaah."_

The high-class ponies in the room all watched Celestia and heard her sing. They figured that if she approved of the music, then they should too. So once the music stopped, all the high-class ponies cheered as they stomped their hooves on the floor.

Me and Jeff just stood on the stage with smiles on our faces while breathing heavily; I for one couldn't believe that the high-class ponies were actually applauding us.

I looked over to Twilight and the others to see they were stomping their hooves on the floor too, Twilight and Luna were stomping their hooves down harder than anyone else.

Celestia then lowered herself down until her hooves were back on the floor in front of Discord, Discord was stunned by Celestia's beautiful singing and he stared into her eyes with his mouth hanging slightly.

Celestia just stood there with a sweet smile on her face while staring up at Discord. "That was beautiful, Celestia." Discord said.

Celestia blushed slightly. "Thank you, Discord. I…don't know what came over me, I just…felt like I needed to do it." She said.

They were both lost in each other's eyes until Celestia snapped back into reality and turned away.

"I…err…I need to get some air…it's a bit stuffy in here." Celestia said before she walked towards the doors that lead outside into the gardens. As she did, she couldn't help but look down at the floor and think about how awkward that moment was, how strange she felt when she was looking into Discord's eyes.

Celestia then shook her head to shake the thought out before she returned her attention to the doors. As she disappeared out the doorway and into the gardens, Discord was left to wonder about what just happen between them.

**Later that night**

It got later and we were all still in the Ballroom. Octavia and the other musicians had returned back on stage and continued to play high-class music.

Celestia had come back inside and informed Discord that he didn't do anything wrong which caused her to leave.

Spike, Jeff and Peewee had gone to _Joe's Donut Shop_ for a while, Spike was excited about that.

I was sitting by one of the tables by myself while watching Twilight talk amongst the rest of the main 6, I was trying to plan on how to get Twilight alone so I could talk to her, but nothing came to mind.

Unknown to me, Luna was staring at me from across the room. "Ok Luna, he's alone. Just go over there and talk to him! Try to stare the conversation to the point where you can tell him your feelings!" Luna thought before she took a deep breath and walked towards me.

Once Luna reached me, she reached for my shoulder with her hoof, she hesitated for a moment before she tapped my shoulder. I then turned my head to see Luna standing next to me and I smiled. "Hey, Luna." I greeted.

Luna gave me a small smile. "Hello Matthew." She greeted back before her smiling face turned into a serious one. "Listen…emm…can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure Luna, what's up?" I asked before I budged aside to allow her to sit down, Luna then sat down beside me and slowly rubbed one of her front hooves up and down on the floor, she was looking down at her hooves with a nervous look on her face.

I noticed this and gave her a concerned look. "Are you alright?"

Luna then raised her head up and gave me a small smile as she nodded. "Yes, I'm just a little nervous."

I gave her a confused look. "Why? What is it you want to talk to me about?" I asked curiously.

Luna then looked into my eyes as she came closer to me. "Matthew…I…I don't really know how to tell you this …and I hope you won't think strangely of me but…I…err…I…" Luna didn't have time to answer as Pinkie Pie suddenly popped but between us.

"Hey, what're you two talking about?" she asked with a large smile.

Luna then lost her courage and answered her. "Nothing…it…wasn't important." She said while looking down at the floor in disappointment.

"Oh, ok." Pinkie Pie said before she turned her head to face me. "What're you doing way over here anyway, Mattie? Twilight and the others are over there." she said before she grabbed my hoof with hers and quickly pulled me away from the table.

"I'll speak to you later, Luna." I called as Pinkie Pie continued to pull me further away from her.

"Oh…alright." Luna responded. Once I was far enough away, Luna quietly stomped one hoof on the floor in frustration. "So close, I'll have to try again later." She said to herself.

After joining the group and talking to them for a while, I was still trying to think of someplace private for me and Twilight to talk. I then noticed Celestia across the room with Discord and I decided to ask her, I left the group and walked towards her. Once I reached her, I cleared my throat. "Emm…Princess." I said quietly.

Celestia then turned her head to face me and smiled down at me. "Yes, Matthew."

"Err…by any chance, is there someplace me and Twilight can go to have some privacy? I need to talk to her about something." I said.

Celestia raised her eye brow. "What is it you want to talk about with her?" she asked curiously.

I became nervous and I hesitated to tell her before I decided to do so. I didn't want to say it out loud, so I raised my hoof up and moved it in a way of telling her to lower her head down, which she did. Once she was low enough, I brought my mouth to her ear and whispered into it.

After Celestia heard what I said, she let out a small gasp of surprise. She then pulled her head away and looked at me with a small smile growing on her face. "Really?" she asked before I nodded.

Celestia then rubbed her chin with her hoof before an idea came to her mind. "I think I have the perfect place. There's going to be a shooting-star show in a few minutes, you and Twilight can watch it from the balcony above the gardens."

I smiled in delight. "That's perfect. Thank you, Princess."

"It's my pleasure." Celestia said with a warm smile, I then turned around and walked back Twilight and the others.

Once I reached them, I walked up beside Twilight. "Hey Twi, can I ask you somethin'?" I asked as I tapped her shoulder; causing her to turn her head to face me.

"Sure, Matt. What is it?" Twilight asked with a smile.

I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof. "Err…would you like to see the shooting-star show outside with me? The Princess has given us the balcony above the gardens; we can watch it from there." I said hoping she'd say _yes_.

Twilight's smile then grew. "Yeah, I'd love to. Is it starting now?" she asked.

"If we go now, we might be there before it starts." I said.

Twilight nodded before she turned her head to face the rest of the main 6. "Do you all mind if we go?"

Rarity shook her head with a smile. "Not at all, dear. You go and have fun with Matt! We'll be here when you get back."

Twilight gave her a thankful smile before we both headed towards Celestia. "Wait! Why don't we go with them?" Pinkie Pie suggested.

Applejack turned her head to face her. "I think they want to have some time alone, Pinkie Pie…you know…_alone_, alone." She said clearly.

Pinkie Pie then got what she was saying. "Oooooh, got'cha." She said with a playful wink before she giggled. Applejack just smirked in amusement at Pinkie Pie before she and the rest of the main 6 continued to watch us leave.

Me and Twilight then approached Celestia and she agreed to show us to the balcony that she mentioned to me. As we left the Ballroom, Luna watched us from the table that we were sat by earlier. "Drat, he left before I could talk to him. I guess I could talk to him during the shooting-star show…no, Twilight Sparkle is with him, I can't tell him my feelings while he's by her side." She said to herself.

Luna then though up an idea before she got up and walked out the doorway and into the gardens.

**Later: Castle Gardens**

Me and Twilight were sitting in a balcony on the castle, overlooking the gardens below us. Down in the gardens where some of the other quests sitting on cushions while looking up at the night sky; waiting for the show to start.

Unknown to us, Luna was down in the gardens with them, she was sitting in a spot where we couldn't see her. "All I have to do is follow them around until Matthew is alone, then I'll talk to him." She thought as she looked up at us.

As Twilight and I looked up at the sky, I couldn't help but become nervous. "Ok, this is it…this is what you've been waiting for all night…just don't screw it up!" I thought as I shifted my eyes to look at Twilight sitting beside me.

Just then, I noticed a light in the sky and I looked up to see a bunch of shooting-stars were shooting across the sky in different directions, it was a beautiful sight.

As we both watched in awe at them, I felt a lump in my throat as I prepared to make my move with Twilight. "Beautiful…isn't it?" Twilight asked not taking her eyes off the sky.

"Yep…beautiful." I responded while doing the same. At that moment, we both quickly turned to face each other. "There's something I want-…" we both said to each other at the same time.

I then chuckled slight. "Ok…you first." I said kindly.

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "Matt, I just wanted to tell you that…the last few months we've spent together…have been the best months of my life. Before I met you, I felt so…alone. I mean, I had my friends and I love them, but I never had somepony to have special feelings with. And when I met you…when I first looked into your eyes…I saw a spark, and now that we're together…I don't feel so alone…you know what I mean?"

I felt heart-warmed by her words and I couldn't help but smile warmly at her. "I didn't know you felt that way about me, Twi."

"Of cause I do, I love you…before we met; I wasn't interested in dating anypony, there wasn't even anyone in Ponyville that I liked in _that_ way. But then you came into my life and everything changed, you've made my life happier. It's like when I first went to Ponyville and met my friends, I use to think that friendship wasn't important until I met them, and now I realize that I was wrong…just like how I was wrong to think that having somepony to love wasn't important." Twilight said.

I understood how she felt, I felt as though she had changed my life just as much as I changed hers.

I remained silent as Twilight looked back up at the stars; my sight never left her as she smiled warmly up at the sky. Twilight was silent for a moment before she started to sing about her feelings.

**Twilight: **_"All those days…watching from the windows…_

_All those years…outside looking in…_

_All that time…never even knowing just how blind I've been…_

_Now I'm here…blinking in the starlight…_

_Now I'm here…suddenly, I see…_

_Standing here…it's all so clear…I'm where I'm meant to beeeee_

_And at last, I see the liiiiiight_

_And it's like…the fog has lifted_

_And at last, I see the liiiiiight_

_And it's like the sky is new…_

_And it's warm, and real, and briiiiight _

_And the world has somehow shifted…"_

Twilight then turned her head to face me with a loving smile.

"_All at once…everything looks different…_

_Now that I…see youuuu."_

Once Twilight stopped singing, a heart-warmed smile began to grow on my face. "Twilight…I understand what you mean. And you say I've made your life better, when actually…_you've_ made _my_ life better. I was alone too, Twi…and now thanks to you, I'm not alone anymore either." I said; causing a warm smile to appear on Twilight's face.

It was true; she had changed my life for the better. I wished to come to this world to have the perfect life, but I got so much more…and I loved it. As we looked deeply into each other's eyes, I felt the urge to sing too.

**Me: **_"All those days…chasing down a day-dream_

_All those years…living in a blur… _

_All that time…never truly seeing things…the way they were_

_Now you're here…shining in the starlight…_

_Now you're here…suddenly, I know…_

_If you're here…it's crystal clear…I'm where I'm meant to goooooo."_

**Me and Twilight: **_"And at last, I see the liiiiiight_."

**Me: **_"And it's like…the fog has lifted."_

**Me and Twilight: **_"And at last, I see the liiiiiight."_

**Twilight: **_"And it's like…the sky is neeeeew." _

**Me and Twilight: **_"And it's warm, and real, and briiiiight_

_And the world has somehow shifteeeed…_

_All at once…everything is different…now that I see youuuu…_

_Now that I…see youuuu…" _

We had stopped singing and everypony down in the gardens had turned away from the stars to watch us up on the balcony, they had heard the whole thing. There was no applause, which was good because that would probably ruin the moment.

With a loving smile, Twilight came closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder with her eyes closed. I smiled at her as I stroked my hoof though her soft mane. I felt warm in her comfort, both physically and emotionally.

Luna was looking up at us with her ears slightly down, she then shook it off and looked back up at the sky to continue to watch the show.

Later, the show had ended and the guests were starting to leave to go back inside. Twilight was about to head out until I stopped her. "Err…Twilight, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Matt. What is it?" she asked as she sat back down.

I felt a lump in my throat as I stared at her, she was glowing in the light of the full moon and her eyes sparkled like stars. I gulped hard before I began to speak. "Twilight…we've been together for a long time now and we've been through a lot together…and I want you to know that you're the most important thing in my life."

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "You're the most important thing in my life too, Matt. But why are you telling me this?" she asked.

I then became nervous. "Because…the more time we spend together, the more I realize…I want us to be together. I didn't tell you this but…remember when I first learned how to fly and I found my inspiration? Well…my inspiration…was you, Twi."

Twilight looked at me with slight surprise. "Really?"

I nodded before I turned my head around and looked down at my pocket before I looked back into her eyes. "I love you, Twilight. You're everything I've ever dreamed of, and…I want to be with you for the rest of my life…so…that's why I want to ask you something."

Twilight looked at me with wonder as I reached my left hoof into my pocket and pulled out a small dark blue box, she let out a small gasp as her eyes widened slightly. "…Matt?..." she whispered while eyeing the box.

I then held the box out in front of her on the palm of my hoof as I managed to get down on one knee.

I managed to use my other hoof to pull open the small lid of the box; revealing a small gold ring with three small white diamonds going along it. Twilight held her hoof in front of her mouth as she looked down at the ring.

"Twilight Sparkle…will you marry me?" I asked with a hopeful smile.

Twilight took her hoof away from her mouth as she remained silent; I then became worried that she was going to refuse until I saw a smile slowly grow on her face.

"Yes…Yes I will." Twilight answered in a joyful tone.

Once I heard her say that, I smiled greatly with joy before I stood back up on only three hooves. I then grabbed the ring with my mouth before I pulled it out of the box and gently placed it on Twilight's horn.

I felt overjoyed, I tried to hold back from crying as Twilight leaped into my arms and we shared a large loving hug as tears of joy rolled down our faces.

We then pulled our heads back so we could look into each other's eyes before we shared a deep kiss of love.

Unknown to us, Luna had watched and heard the whole thing and she had a devastated look on her face. Her ears were down in sadness and her eyes began to water, she then sniffed a few times. "I…was too late…I didn't even get the chance to tell him how I feel." She said to herself.

Luna hung her head in sadness, her horn then glowed and her dress disappeared off her body in a flash of light. she then walked back inside the Ballroom with tears in her eyes.

**Later: Ballroom**

The Gala was over and the guests were leaving.

Me and Twilight had already informed the others about our engagement and they were more than overjoyed. In fact, Rarity was so happy that she actually screamed in delight and Pinkie Pie was already getting excited about throwing a celebration party.

Jeff and Peewee were surprised at first, but then they felt proud and happy for me. Due to the late time, Spike had fallen asleep. Twilight had placed him on her back and was prepared to take him home.

We all said our goodbyes to Discord before he left to inform the Diamond Dogs that they don't have to stand by the doors anymore.

We said our goodbyes to Celestia as we began to leave the castle to go back to our carriage to take us back to Ponyville.

After the others left, Me and Twilight stopped to talk to Celestia. "We had a great time tonight, Princess…it'll be one I'll never forget." I said.

Celestia gave us a warm smile. "I'm so glad you enjoyed your selves and congratulations on your engagement." She said kindly.

We gave her a thankful smile before I looked around the room. "Hey, where's Luna? I wanted to say goodnight to her." I said.

Celestia began to wonder that too and looked around. "Hmm…I saw her come in from the gardens; she must have gone back up to her room."

"Well, can you tell her we said goodnight?" I asked.

Celestia nodded before we walked past her to leave. "Goodnight, Princess." Twilight said as we left. "Yeah, goodnight." I added.

"Goodnight, you two. And again, congratulations." Celestia responded as she watched us leave until we were gone.

**Later: Ponyville library**

After another long carriage ride, we finally returned to Ponyville and we all went back to our own homes to rest.

Twilight had placed Spike in in his basket to sleep in comfort with Jeff and Peewee sleeping beside him.

Me and Twilight were still awake; we had taken off our Gala outfits and placed them in the closet, Twilight had taken the ring off her horn and placed it on the wooden counter beside the bed.

We were both now lying in our bed, under the covers with our heads on the pillows. We stared into each other's eyes as we thought about the future we would have together.

"I can't believe we're actually engaged." Twilight said in a giggly tone.

"I know, I can't believe it ether…I don't think I've ever been this happy before in my life." I said sweetly.

Twilight gave me a warm smile. "Me nether."

We then moved in closer before we shared a passionate kiss on the lips, we then broke the kiss and we smiled lovingly at each other. "Goodnight, Matt…I love you." Twilight said before she closed her eyes to sleep.

"Goodnight, Twi…I love you too." I said before I did the same as she did.

I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep, ending what I named…my _best night ever_.

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Here are the songs I used, in order.**

**1: **_**Hot wings (I wanna party),**_** from the animated movie **_**Rio**_**. Sung by **_**Jamie Foxx**_**, **_**Will-I-am**_** and **_**Anne Hathaway. **_**I do not own anything.**

**2: **_**I see the light**_**, from the animated Disney movie **_**Tangled.**_** I do not own anything.**

**Please remember to review! I hope I get a Happy Birthday message from some of you, that would mean a lot to me.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	30. Chapter 30: Tears of the moon

**Hey everypony, I'm sorry the Luna part in my last chapter made you all upset. I want everypony to know that I care for Luna too; she's like one of my favourite characters. I don't want to upset anyone. **

**So I made a decision, I went back and removed the last Luna scene from the last chapter. I'm sorry, but it was upsetting too many readers.**

**Anyway, to make up for it, I've wrote this. Enjoy!**

Chapter 30: Tears of the moon

It's been 1 day since the Grand Galloping Gala, and Twilight and I were preparing to plan our wedding. Twilight's been making check-lists in order to do it, I loved it when she acted all nerdy.

**Ponyville café **

I had just finished delivering apple supplies around Ponyville, now Me and Jeff were taking a moment to relax at the café.

As we sat down by a table waiting for our orders, we got to talking. "I still can't believe it, you're gettin' married." Jeff said with a proud smile.

I nodded in agreement. "I know, Jeff. I can't believe it either; this is going to be a big step of me, maybe the biggest step of my life."

Jeff then looked down at the table. "Well, you know. Life's full of big steps. But if you want to do it, then that's fine." He said in a slight depressed tone with a small smile.

I noticed the odd sound in his voice and gave him a concerned look. "Jeff, are you ok? You sound a little….down."

Jeff then looked back up at me. "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just….this whole marriage thing."

I then raised my eye brow. "What's wrong with me getting married?" I asked curiously.

Jeff went wide-eyed and quickly put his wings up. "Nothing, nothing at all. I'm glad you're marrying Twilight, I'm happy for ya, dude." He said before he looked back down.

"It's just…you'll probably be so busy with your married life that…we won't have time to hang out anymore." He said.

I understood how he felt; I couldn't help but feel bad for him. "Aww, Jeff…Don't think that! Of cause we'll have time to hang out after I'm married; you're one of my best friends. I'll always have time for you and Twilight." I said in a sweet way.

Jeff then looked back up at me. "Promise?" he asked.

I chuckled slightly at his question, because I knew where this would lead. "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cup cake in my eye." I chanted as I placed my left-hoof over my left-eye.

Jeff then gave me a warm smile. "Thanks dude. And don't think I'm not happy about this marriage thing! Because I am. I'll be right there at your wedding with a smile on my face, I promise."

Jeff then narrowed his eyes. "And don't ask me to Pinkie Promise! I do Pinkie Promise, but I hate doing the chant." He said.

I gave him a small nod. "Fair enough." I said.

At that moment, the waiter came to our table while holding up a metal tray on his hoof, the metal tray had to glasses of water on it. The waiter placed the tray on our table before he left.

Jeff smiled before he grabbed one of the glasses with his wing and held it up. "To your future with Twilight, who knows what'll happen?" he said proudly.

I then managed to grab the other glass with my hoof before I held it up too. "And to whatever happens next in our lives." I added.

Me and Jeff then clanked our drinks together before we both took a sip out of them. We then placed our drinks back down on the table before Jeff titled his head to look behind me.

"What's taking them so long with our orders? HEY, we've been here for almost an hour, where's our food?" Jeff yelled over to the waiter.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle gardens**

Luna was lying in front of her fountain in the gardens while looking down at the water with a depressed look on her face, she was slowly swirling the tip of her right-hoof around in circles in the water while resting her chin on the left one.

As Luna looked at her reflection, she talked to herself. "Well, that's it. Matthew's getting married…I should have told him my feelings when I had the chance. But I can't tell him now, it'll just be too awkward for him. It's not like he'd share my feelings, he loves Twilight Sparkle."

Luna the shook her head to try shake off her sadness. "No, you should be happy for them, Luna. Matthew has been with Twilight Sparkle before you even met him, you should have known something like this would happen. Now, I forbid you from being upset about this any longer." She said to her reflection.

Luna's strong act then faded as her thoughts returned to her, her ears then lowered. "Oh…who am I fooling? I love him, but he doesn't love me….why would he? After everything I did as Nightmare Moon...this can't possibly get any worse." She said to herself.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and Discord appeared behind Luna. "Oh Luna, there you are." He said with a smiled.

Luna didn't turn around as she narrowed her eyes. "I spoke to soon." She groaned under her breath.

Discord then walked closer to Luna. "I've been wondering where you ran off to after the Gala. Celestia went up to your room the next morning, but you weren't there. We searched all around Ponyville, you weren't there either. I then figured that if you weren't in Canterlot, and you weren't in Ponyville, then you must be at your castle. So I told Celestia that I'd check, and here I am." he explained.

Luna continued to look at her reflection in the water with an irritated look on her face. "Forgive me for not informing my sister of my where-abouts! I just needed to be alone for a while."

"By the way, I don't know if you've heard, but Matthew and Twilight are getting married. Matthew proposed to her at the Gala." Discord said with a cheerful smile.

"Yes, Discord. I am well aware of their engagement." Luna said as she glared down at the water.

Discord didn't notice the sound in her voice and continued. "I mean, I always knew those two would seal-the-deal eventually. But now that it's happening, I don't know what to say."

Discord then wrapped his arm around Luna. "You know what we should do? We should celebrate. I'll get us started."

Discord then released Luna before snapped his fingers.

With a flash of light, a sombrero appeared on his head and a trumpet in his lion hand. He then held the trumpets mouthpiece to his mouth before he started playing Mexican music.

As Discord played, Luna's frustration grew. All she wanted was to be alone with her thoughts, not to be reminded of what she believed was the tragedy of her life by this annoying spirit.

Luna growled louder and louder before she turned her head to face Discord and stood up onto her hooves. "ENOUGH!" she yelled in her royal Canterlot voice.

Discord then stopped playing and removed the trumpets mouthpiece off his mouth. "But I feel like celebrating." He stated with an innocent voice.

"WELL, I DO NOT." Luna snapped using her royal voice again.

Discord gave her a small frown before he snapped his fingers and his sombrero and trumpet disappeared in a flash of light, Discord then crossed his arms as he looked down at Luna with a raised eye brow. "What's got your tail in a twist?"

"Nothing, just LEAVE ME BE!" Luna yelled with the wind in her royal voice blowing hard; causing Discord to skid back a bit.

Discord was slightly stunned by Luna's sudden anger, he watched as she sat back down in front of the fountain and continued to look down at her reflection in the water, Luna then closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek.

Discord then realized that she was upset about something, he slowly walked up to her. "Emm…Luna…are you alright?" he asked in concern, Luna didn't answer.

Discord then snapped his fingers and a white handkerchief appeared in his talon hand, he held in in front of Luna and she noticed it. Luna looked up at Discord to so a friendly smile on his face.

Luna sniffed as she smiled back before she used her magic to lift the handkerchief out of his hand and used it to wipe the tear off her cheek.

Discord then sat down beside Luna before he wrapped his talon arm around her. "Something's bothering you; do you want to tell me what it is? Maybe I could help." He said kindly.

Luna then gave Discord the handkerchief back. "N-No, thank you. I appreciate your concern, Discord. But…all I want is to be alone for a moment…please…" she said as she turned her head away from Discord.

Discord then let out a small sigh. "…As you wish." He said before he stood back up and walked away.

Luna then looked back into the water again before she heard the sound of fingers snapping and a flash of light came from behind her; telling her that Discord had left.

Leaving Luna alone in the gardens with her thoughts.

**Meanwhile: Ponyville café **

Me and Jeff had finally got our food; I was having a few apples while Jeff was having hay-fries with a small cup of dipping sauce at the side.

"Mm…it's about time we ate…right, Jeff?" I asked as I chewed a chunk of apples.

Jeff gapped some of the hay-fries and shoved them into his mouth before he chewed them in satisfaction. "Yeah…I was so hungry…I could've eaten a…"

Before Jeff could finish, he noticed that I was looking at him with narrow eyes, because I knew how that sentence was going to end.

"Errr…never mind, I was just really hungry." Jeff said before he gave me a sheepish smile.

I then gave him a smirk. "Nice save, Jeff." I said before we both went back to eating.

After we finished our food and paid the bill, Jeff and I were about to leave until we heard the sound of someone running. It was getting louder.

Me and Jeff looking in the direction the sound was coming from to see Spike running towards us with a scroll in his hand. Once he reached us, he put his hands on his knees as he panted in exhaustion.

I got up from my place and walk up to Spike, I then placed my right hoof on his back. "Whow, calm down, little buddy!...what's got you all worked up?" I asked.

Spike finally caught his breath before he began to speak. "Sorry, I've been running around all over Ponyville trying to find you. I just got this urgent message from the Princess." He explained as he showed me the scroll in his hand.

I raised my eye brow. "Why give it to me? Why not show it to Twilight?" I asked.

"Two reasons. One, Twilight's not at the library, she went to Fluttershy's cottage for a while. And two…it's for you." Spike explained.

I was slightly surprised by this news. "For me? What's it say?" I asked.

Spike then unrolled the scroll before he read it to me.

"_Dear Matthew_

_I apologize for troubling you at this time, but this is important. Discord went to check on Luna in her castle, and he tells me that something seems to be bothering her. He says that she was so upset and frustrated, that she yelled at him with her Royal Canterlot voice. Matthew, you have a good connection with her, so I'm asking you if you would go and talk to her. I would go myself, but I'm too busy with royal business. Please, I'm worried about her._

_Yours, Princess Celestia." _

After Spike finished reading the letter, he looked up at me with a worried look. "I wonder what's wrong with Princess Luna." He said.

"That's what I want to know; I should go and see what's up with her." I said before I turned around and walked away from Jeff and Spike.

I then stopped and looked back at them. "Spike, send a letter to Celestia saying that I'm on my way Luna's castle to talk to her!"

"Sure thing, Matt. but what about Twilight? Shouldn't she know about this?" Spike asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, tell her about the letter and that I'm going to try and help Luna! I'll be back later." I said before I turned my head forward.

I then took off into the sky and flew in the direction towards Luna's castle.

**Later that evening: Luna's castle**

It was a long flight and I was very tired, but the thought of Luna needing my help kept me going.

I was glad when I finally saw Luna's castle up ahead, I landed in front of the castle gates where two of Luna's guards stood in place.

"Here I am, Luna's castle. Damn, I haven't been here since that whole issue with Thorn." I thought.

I looked up at the tall castle gates as I thought about that night; I still remember the twisted state the gates were in after Thorn had smashed through them. I then shook off the memory and walked towards the guards.

One of the guards stepped forward. "State your name and business!" he ordered in a frim voice.

I stopped in front of him. "My name's Matthew, I was sent by Princess Celestia to talk to Princess Luna." I explained.

The two guards looked at each other before they looked back at me. "Go on ahead!" one of the guards said as he used his magic to open one of the gate doors.

"Thanks." I said as I walked past between the two guards and into the castle grounds.

When I got to the front double-doors of the castle, I was told by a guard that Luna was in her gardens and he escorted me there. As we walked through the castle to reach the gardens, I saw that Luna's security had doubled, most likely to prevent another attack.

I also had a few flash backs of that night. The destroyed towers, the broken doors, the dead guards, all the memories rushed through my head. I didn't want to remember that horror, so I tried my best to block out the thoughts.

After a short travel through the castle, the guard and I reached a pair of double-doors. The guard walked up to the double-doors before he opened them with his magic; revealing the castles gardens.

I looked at the garden in awe at its beauty, it was full of blue flowers and the leaves on the trees sparkled like stars. If it was this beautiful in the day, I couldn't imagine how it would look in the night.

As I looked around, I suddenly noticed Luna sitting in front of a water fountain with a statue of herself in the middle of the pool. Even though her back was turned to me, I could tell she was upset with something.

I looked at her in wonder before the guard turned his head to face me. "She's been down there all day, we've tried to talk to her, but she keeps sending us away. Do you think you can try?" he asked.

I turned my head to face him. "I'll try." I answered.

The guard then nodded before he turned around and walked back into the castle. I then turned my attention back to Luna before I began to walk towards her.

As I got closer, I could the sound of her sniffing her nose with her head hanging. I grew more and more concerned about her.

I then stopped a few feet away from her. "L-Luna?" I said quietly.

Luna's eyes shot open. "That voice." She thought as she quickly raised her head up and turned her head around to see me.

"Matthew!...(sniff)…w-what are you doing?" Luna asked in surprise, she then wiped away the small amount of tears in her eyes with her hoof.

I walked closer to her. "Celestia sent me a message; it said that you were upset with something and that you yelled at Discord because of it. Do you want to talk about it?" I asked kindly.

Luna turned her head away from me before she looked back down at the water. "No, I'm not upset…I just need so time alone, that's all."

I then walked up beside her and sat down with her. "Luna, I can tell something's bothering you. Why don't you want to talk about it with me?" I asked.

Luna didn't look at me. "I…I don't know if I can." She said with slight sadness.

I then wrapped my arm around her. "Luna, I'm here for you, you know you can tell me anything. Please, I want to help you." I said sweetly.

Luna turned her head slightly to look at me; she then took a quiet deep breath before she spoke. "Matthew…I want to tell you something, something I wanted to tell you at the Gala." She said.

"Ok, what is it?" I asked.

"First, how much do you care about me?" Luna asked.

I was starting to wonder why she was asking these type of questions. "I care a lot about you, Luna. You're one of my best friends, that's why I'm here to help." I said.

Luna's ears lowered slightly. "And that's all we'll ever be?...Friends?"

I gave her a confused look as I took my arm off her. "What do you mean by that?" I asked curiously.

Luna then turned her head away and looked back down at her reflection. "It does not matter now." She answered.

I thought long and hard about what she just said. "What did she mean by _that's all we'll be_? It sounds familiar, like something someone would say to someone who they imagined could be more to them than just-…" I thought before it hit me.

I gave Luna a wondering look. "Luna…do you…like me?" I asked.

Luna closed her eyes tight as she let out a sigh. "It…may be…different than that." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Luna then opened her eyes before she turned her head to face me; she looked deep into my eyes before she spoke. "I…I…*mumble*."

I could hear what she said. "What'd you say?" I asked.

"I said, I…*mumble*." Luna mumbled again.

"Come again!" I said as I held my right hoof behind my right ear to try and hear her better.

Luna then quickly stood to her hooves as she continued to look into my eyes. "I said, I…I…I love you. There, I said it." she said loudly.

I was stunned and shocked by this sudden news. "W-What?" was all I could say.

"I love you, Matthew. I have for a while now, I would have told you sooner, but I knew that you were in love with Twilight Sparkle and I didn't want to ruin anything between the two of you. I tried to tell you at the Gala, but there were so many distractions that I never got the chance." Luna explained clearly.

I was still surprised by the fact that she loved me; the question in my head though was…why? "Luna…of all the colts in the world, why would you love me? Somepony like you could do so much better." I said.

Luna then came closer to me; causing me to stand to my hooves. "No, I could not. Ever since I re-joined my sister on the throne, ponies have been scared of me, they'd run away the moment they'd see me."

"But, all that's changed now. All the ponies in Ponyville aren't scared of you anymore, and I'm sure the ponies in Canterlot will come around eventually, your sister is their ruler after all." I stated.

Luna let out a groan. "I know, I know, but that's not what I mean. Want I mean is, you're the first colt I've ever met who didn't run away the first time they saw me. It was as if…you didn't know who I was or what I did when I was Nightmare Moon…but you did, you knew exactly who I was and you knew exactly what I did. And yet, you still weren't afraid."

I raised my eye brow. "Is that the reason you're in love with me?" I asked nervously.

Luna then looked down at the ground. "That is not the only reason." She stated.

"So, what're the other reasons?" I asked.

Luna then looked back up at me. "Matthew, you're the first colt that's ever show me two things…._compassion_ and _understanding_. When I was training you how to use your Element, You understood that I felt bad about what I did as Nightmare Moon. You didn't care about what I did, you didn't see me as Nightmare Moon, you saw me as who I am now. Before Ponyville's fear of me was put to rest, only my sister, Twilight Sparkle and her friends have shown me such care. Yet, I was still in the darkness because of how badly I felt about myself. But you…you helped me see differently about myself, you showed me a light that vanquished the darkness. And at that moment…I gained a crush on you and I kept it a secret." She explained.

I was stunned by what she was saying; she was saying that I helped her to stop blaming herself about the whole Nightmare Moon thing. "This is my fault. I must have given her the wrong message when I talked to her." I thought before Luna continued.

"I wanted to tell you my feelings, I really did. But…you were with Twilight Sparkle and…I didn't want to cause a problem, so I kept it to myself for a while. But then there was that night when Thorn kidnapped my and took away my magic, I was so frightened. I prayed for you to come and help me, and you did. You defeated Thorn, saved Canterlot, and brought my magic back to me. That night, you were my hero. And a few days after that, I grew more attached to you…that's when I realized that…I loved you." Luna explained.

The stunned feeling was starting to fade. Once I was calmer, I spoke. "Luna…why didn't you say anything sooner?" I asked.

Luna then sat back down as she continued to look in my eyes. "I was going to tell you at the Gala…but I couldn't."

I then remembered that she wanted to tell me something in private before Pinkie Pie interrupted her. "Wait, is this what you wanted to tell me at the Gala before Pinkie Pie showed up between us?" I asked before Luna nodded.

"When you left the Ballroom with Twilight Sparkle, I decided to follow you until I could get another chance alone with you. I followed you to the shooting-star show, you two were up on the balcony while I was down in the gardens. But…all my chances of expressing my feelings to you vanished when I overheard your proposal to Twilight Sparkle." Luna said before her ears dropped in sadness.

"I…I felt terrible after that…I couldn't stay in the Gala, I just went back up to my room." Luna said with her eyes shut.

The moment I heard her say that, I felt like I was the cause of her sadness. No, I _knew_ I was the cause of her sadness. I'm the reason she's upset today, I'm the reason she yelled at Discord, I'm the reason I was standing there right now talking to her.

"Oh no…what've I done to her? I should have known, she's been acting so differently lately, now I know why. I didn't know, how could I have known? Shit, I'm such a clueless, insensitive, bastard." I thought.

As Luna kept her eyes shut tight with her head hanging, I came closer beside her. "Luna, are you saying that my best night ever…was your _worst_ night ever?" I asked as I felt more upset for her.

"Uh-hm." Luna hummed as she slowly nodded while keeping her eyes shut.

I then felt even worse about myself. "Oh Luna, come here sweet-heart!" I said sweetly as I hugged her tight.

Luna nuzzled her head against the side of my neck as she hugged back; I made the hug as warm and loving as possible. As we hugged, I started to feel the side of my neck get wet. I figured that she was letting out tears and they were soaking into my fur. "Luna, please don't cry. I can't stand it when a girl cries. I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm so sorry."

I continued to hug Luna tightly, letting her know how sorry I was. After a good seven minutes of hugging, we both slowly pulled away and looked at each other. "Matthew…I…I apologize if I've brought any pressure on you, I just wanted you to know my feelings for you…but I don't know what to do about it." Luna said.

"I have a suggestion, but you're probably not going to like it. Luna...you'll have to try and move on!" I said.

Luna looked at me with a slightly shocked look. "W-What?" was all she said.

I looked into her eyes with sorrow. "I'm so sorry, Luna. But…I'm with Twilight, I-I love her; I can't abandon her after everything we've done together, after all the kindness and love she's given me."

Luna's ears were still down; she looked at me with slight sadness. "I know but…you're the only colt I've ever loved."

I felt my heart grow heavy before I placed my hooves on her shoulders. "Trust me, Luna! This is harder for me. Your colt is out there somewhere, but…it's just not me. I care a lot about you, Luna, but I'm in love with Twilight. We can still be friends but that's all we can be, friends….I'm so sorry, Luna." I said as sweetly as I could before I removed my hooves from her shoulders.

There was a moments silence before Luna spoke. "Y-You are correct, Matthew. You are in love with Twilight Sparkle, and it was foolish of me to think that we could be together when I knew you were with her. I understand now, and I'm sorry." She said before she wiped her tears away with her hoof.

Even though she said that, I knew she was still somewhat upset. "Luna, I hope I haven't ruined anything between us. I mean, I care about you. I would never want to hurt you in any way."

Luna turned her head away from me. "No, you're right…I should move on. I just…need a moment alone to calm down, so…please go back to Ponyville!" she said.

I knew she wasn't mad at me; she just needed time to think. But I still felt concerned about her. "Are you sure, Luna? Do you want me to spend the night to comfort you?" I asked trying to be helpful to her feelings.

Luna turned her head to face me. "N-No, I'll be fine. It just takes a little time to get over something like this." She stated.

I didn't want to leave her like this, but I didn't want to argue with her either. I could tell she was in no mood to argue, so I nodded. "Alright, Luna. I'll leave you to think." I said.

Before I left her, I placed my hoof on her shoulder. She looked at me and I gave her an honest smile. "It'll be ok, Luna. I'll still see you, and we'll hang out a lot when I see you again." I said.

Luna smiled sweetly back. "I'd like that."

I then removed my hoof from her shoulder before I began to walk back towards the castle. As Luna watched me walk away, a small frown came on her face before she let out a sigh.

**That night: Ponyville library**

Spike, Jeff and Peewee were all asleep in Spike's basket, and Twilight was down stairs in the bathroom getting ready to join me in the bed.

While I was lying in the bed, I was looking up at the ceiling in deep thought about Luna.

"I hope she's alright. She said she was goin' to be fine, but…she could've just been saying that to get me to leave. I just feel as though I could have done better, like I could have done something to make her feel better before I left." I thought as I tapped both my front hooves together.

At that moment, Twilight came up the stairs and walked over to the other side of the bed. After she got into bed beside me, she turned her head to face me to see the worried look on my face. "Matt, are you ok, sweetie?" she asked in concern.

I then snapped out of my train of thought and turned my head to face her. "Well…not really. I'm a bit worried about Luna." I admitted.

"Yeah, Spike told me that you got a letter from the Princess saying that she was upset with something. What was she upset about?" Twilight asked.

I wasn't sure if I should tell, I already felt like a bad guy for letting Luna down. But, I'd probably be an even bigger bad guy if I didn't tell her. "Promise you won't get mad at her!"

Twilight nodded. "Of course not, Luna is Celestia's sister, I'd never get mad at her." She stated.

After hearing this, I took a deep breath before I spoke. "Well…I went to check on her like Celestia asked me to, I then found Luna in her gardens and we started talking. That's when she told me what was bothering her."

"What was it?" Twilight asked.

I looked deep into Twilight's eyes, I almost didn't want to say it, but I had to. "She said that…she's…she's had a crush for a while, and…she said that ever since that whole Thorn thing…her crush evolved into love, so…she was saying that…she loved me." I said hoping Twilight wouldn't get upset.

Twilight stared at me in silence before she spoke. "She…loves you?...W-Why does she love you?" she asked in a shocked voice.

I threw my head back on the pillow before I placed my hooves on my eyes. "It's all my fault, Twi. I caused this to happen."

Twilight looked at me with a raised eye brow. "What? What do you mean? How is it your fault?" she asked.

I removed my hooves from my eyes. "It was when she was training me to use my Element. She told me that she felt bad about what happened when she was Nightmare Moon; she said that the ponies were still sacred of her; I did my best to comfort her, I told her that I didn't care about what she did and to ignore any comments from other ponies. She may've got the wrong idea about it, and that's how she got a crush on me."

"But…how did her crush turn to love?" Twilight asked as she started to calm down.

"She loves me because I saved her from Thorn and stopped him from taking over Canterlot. I helped her when she needed me most. Now she's upset because she overheard us at the Gala, she heard me propose to you and it devastated her." I said.

"So…what'd you tell her?" Twilight asked.

I looked in her eyes before I let out a sigh. "I told her…that I loved you and…she needed to move on and find another colt who'd make her happy. I did my best to let her down easy but it was hard to do…"

"And what did she say to that?" Twilight asked.

"She said that she understood and that she was going to move on…but I still feel as though I've broken her heart. Twilight…am I a bad pony?" I asked as I sat up on the bed.

Twilight shook her head. "No, of course not. Matt, these kind of things are always hard to do. It's like breaking up with your girlfriend of coltfriend, you can't do it without upsetting the other."

"I know, Twi. But I still feel like…pardon my language!... I feel like complete and utter bull-crap." I said before I dropped face first down on my pillow.

I then felt Twilight rub my back with her hoof. "Oh Matt…if it will make you feel any better, how about tomorrow we go to her castle and try to straighten this out a little more with her? You know, just to talk with her."

I then pulled my head up out from the pillow before I looked at Twilight. "Are you sure? I don't know if she want to see us right now." I said.

"Look, you're upset, Luna's upset. The only way to fully settle this is to have a good conversation about it with her, I'm sure we'll handle it somehow." Twilight said with a confident smile.

I then smiled back. "Ok, Twi. We'll talk to her tomorrow." I said as I turned my body over so I was lying on my back again.

I then gave Twilight a small kiss on her cheek before she lied down and turned her body so she was lying on her right side. "Goodnight, Matt." she said before she closed her eyes.

"Goodnight, Twi." I said before I lied my head down on the pillow and closed my eyes to sleep. However, I still felt slightly worried about Luna.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle gardens **

Luna was now in the middle of her gardens sitting on a bench; she was trying to calm herself by enjoying her beautiful surroundings while looking up at her full moon.

She was in deep thought about what I said to her earlier today. "Matthew is right, I should move on. It's not like I had a chance with him anyway, I should have known better then to think he would love me when he loves Twilight Sparkle." She said out loud to herself before she hung her head.

"I just wish I knew how it felt to have a coltfriend who loves me." Luna said in slight depression.

"_Oh poor, poor Princess Luna_." A female voice echoed in the wind; causing Luna to gasp in fright before she jumped off the bench.

"_So alone in the world, never having somepony to love. It makes me so sad that I shed a tear every time I think about it, you really do get to me sometimes, Princess_." The voice ached again.

Luna turned her head left and right as fast as she could to find the source of the voice. "Who are you? How did you get in here?" she yelled in the air.

"_Oh Luna, I've always been here. I've been watching you all day_." The voice echoed again.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Luna demanded.

"…_as you wish, my dear_." The voice echoed before a large bolt of dark-purple flames appeared a few feet away from Luna.

Luna covered her face with her wing to block out the heat from the flames. When Luna felt the heat die down, she removed her wing and her eyes widened at what she saw.

She saw a silhouetted female alicorn with glowing red eyes standing a few feet away from her, her mane and tail were formed completely out of dark-purple flames. "There, maybe now we talk face-to-face." She said.

Luna growled at her as her horn glowed blue. "What do you alicorns always what with me?" she yelled.

The alicorn held one of her front hooves to her chest. "I want nothing with you, except to make you happy," she stated with a grin.

The glow on Luna's horn then faded away as she looked at the alicorn with a raised eye brow. "What do you mean? And who are you anyway?" she asked with a surreptitious look.

The alicorn began to walk over to her. "Oh yes, where are my manners? I am _Zelga_, a pleasure to finally meet you, Princess." The alicorn (now known as Zelga) said as she held her hoof out to Luna.

Luna looked at Zelga's hoof before she looked up into her red eyes. Zelga then took her hoof away and placed it back on the ground. "Not the shaking type, hmm? No matter, no matter, we know each other enough already."

Luna watched as Zelga walked over to the bench and sat down on it, Zelga then looked at Luna before she patter her hoof on the bench. "Care to sit down, dear?" she asked.

Luna gave her a distrustful look. "I'd rather stand, if you don't mind." She said in a firm voice.

"Oh, I understand completely why you wouldn't trust me. Why would you after everything my dear old brother did to you, he did go a bit overboard with that one, didn't he?" Zelga said before she giggled.

Luna gave Zelga a confused look as she thought about what she just said. Once Luna figured it out, he eyes widened. "Wait! Are you saying that…Thorn was your brother?"

Zelga then grinned. "…Maybe."

Once Luna heard that, she growled loudly with her teeth bearing. She got in a fighting position as her horn glowed brightly. "I knew there was something familiar about your flaming mane and tail, leave my castle NOW!" she demanded.

"Oh, but Luna. All I want to do is to help you with your little problem. Don't you want to know what I have planned?" Zelga asked with an innocent look on her face.

"I am not interested." Luna stated with a sharp glare in her eyes.

Zelga then smirked. "Really? Even if I mentioned that my plan will bring your deepest desire to life?...to grant you what you've wished for so many long weeks?"

Luna's glare then faded as her horn stopped glowing, she wondered what she was talking about. "Explain your words!" she said.

Zelga smiled. "Come here, sit with me. We have much to discuss." She said as she patted her hoof on the bench again.

This time, Luna walked over to the bench and sat down beside Zelga. Once she was satisfied, Zelga spread out one of her large feathered wings and wrapped it around Luna.

Zelga's horn then glowed purple and two black chalices appeared in a flash of light, they were both hovering in mid-air front of them. One of the chalices hovered towards Zelga while the other hovered towards Luan.

Zelga's chalice hovered in front of her mouth before she took the first sip of her drink; she then looked down at Luna. "Thirsty?" she asked.

Luna looked into her chalice to see red bubbling water inside, it smelled foul; causing Luna to cover her mouth with her hoof. "No, thank you." Luna said.

"Very well." Zelga said before Luna's chalice disappeared in a flash of light, Zelga took another sip of her drink before she spoke.

"Now, where was I? Ah yes, I have a solution to your little…Matthew problem." Zelga said with a devious grin.

Luna turned her head to face Zelga with her eyes slightly wide. "I…don't know what you're talking about." She said as her eyes shifted.

Zelga giggled. "Oh Luna, you don't have to hide your feelings from me. I already know your feelings for young Matthew; I can sense it in your heart. You wonder what it would be like if he loved you, if he hugged you during a rain storm…if he kissed you." she whispered in Luna's ear.

As Zelga took her mouth away from Luna's ear, Luna stared into thin air as she thought deeply about it. "I…have wondered those things." she admitted.

Zelga then wrapped her arms around Luna. "Oh, sweet-heart. It's so upsetting, to love somepony who loves another."

Luna didn't know why, but she had the urge to rest her head on Zelga's warm coat; which she eventually did.

Zelga smiled before she released Luna from her hug, she then lowered her head down to Luna. "What if I told you I could make your wonders a reality?" she said before Luna looked at her; giving Zelga her full attention.

Zelga grinned as her horn glowed purple. Suddenly, there was a small flash of light and a small brown scroll appeared. It hovered towards Luna and stopped in front of her face. "W-What is this?" she asked.

The scroll then unrolled itself to reveal a recipe; Luna then read it to discover it was a recipe for a potion. "A potion? What kind of potion?" Luna asked.

"…A love potion, all you have to do is make it. And when you're done, have Matthew drink it. Then he'll instantly fall in love with the first girl he sees, you just have to make sure that girl is you." Zelga explained with a sly voice.

Luna then placed her hoof on the scroll before she gently pushed it away. "No, no, I could never use a potion like that on Matthew. I am curious about what it would feel like to have a coltfriend, but I'm not _that_ desperate." She stated.

"Oh, no worries. The effects of the potion aren't permanent, they're only temporary. They'll last an hour, at least. And don't worry about Matthew! Once the effects have worn off, he'll have no memory about what happened. To him, it'll be as if it never happened. It's a win-win, Luna. You can have an hour with him without harming your friendship with anyone. As long as you don't let anyone know you did it, that is" Zelga explained with a generous smile.

Luna remained silent as she looked back at the scroll floating in front of her. "Well, what do you say, Luna? Go on with your life without knowing what it feels like to have a colt love you, or make the potion and experience what you've wanted for long." Zelga said.

Luna thought long and hard about it. "In a way, that does make sense. If I use the potion on Matthew, he won't remember anything once the effects ware off. I can have some time with him without losing him as a friend…but it all sounds so devious, would I really do such a thing to him? Would I make him feel fake love for me? All these questions and decisions are twisting my mind." She thought.

Zelga continued to wait for an answer, but there wasn't one. Zelga smiled before she used her magic to roll the scroll back up and placed it beside Luna on the bench.

Luna still remained silent as she looked down at the ground in front of her, Zelga's horn glowed purple before there was a small flash of light. When the light faded, there was a black rose floating in mid-air beside Luna's head.

The rose then hovered towards closer to Luna before it placed itself behind her ear; Zelga then wrapped her arm around Luna as she smiled down at her. "I'll let you think it over." She said before she planted a sweet kiss above Luna's forehead; Luna only reacted by turning her head to face Zelga.

Zelga then removed her arm from Luna before she hovered her chalice towards her mouth again.

Zelga then took one last gulp of her drink before her chalice disappeared in a flash of light.

Zelga then got up off the bench and started to walk away. Luna wanted to say something to her, but she couldn't find the words. She just sat there and watched her walk away.

Zelga then stopped in her tracks before she turned her head around to look at Luna. "We'll be in-touch, and go on inside your castle! We wouldn't want you to catch a cold now, do we?" She said with a grin before she winked at Luna.

Zelga's horn then glowed purple again, and a large bolt of dark-purple flames formed around her. When the flames cleared, Zelga was gone.

Luna just sat there on the bench, alone and puzzled, she looked down beside her to see the scroll.

A feel rushed through her body as she looked at it, she didn't know if it meant that this was the answer to her problems, or if it meant that she would do a dark deed just to for-fill her desires.

She then moved her eyes upward to try and see the rose on her ear, he horn glowed and the rose lifted off her ear and hovered in front of her. She held up her hoof and placed the rose on its palm so she cloud look at it better.

Luna didn't know what her next move would be, would she make the potion, or would she forget about such an idea? She looked back and forth from the rose to the scroll as she thought about Zelga's kindness.

"Why is she trying to help me? I thought she'd be angry after what happened to Thorn. Could she be different to him? Is she kind of like the good sibling? These are a lot of risky questions, but the riskiest question is….can I trust her?" Luna said out loud to herself.

Luna then used her magic to place the rose back behind her ear before she looked back down at the scroll; she gave it one last thought until she made her ultimate decision. "I'll think about it." She said.

Luna's horn glowed before the scroll lifted up to her and placed itself in her neck-piece.

Luna let out a sigh of shame before she got up off the bench and started walking towards the entrance to her castle.

**I hope you like the chapter.**

**Trust me when I tell you this, it was more upsetting for me to write, then it was for you to read.**

**Don't worry about Luna! She'll be back and you will be surprised by what she gets later on in the story.**

**I tried to make this chapter as friendly as possible to Luna, so please don't think badly of me!**

_**Note to readers**_**: I'm having a bit of trouble with something and I could use your help. I don't know where Matt and Twilight's wedding should take place.**

**The choices are Ponyville, or Canterlot. Please tell me in your review where you think the wedding should be! Thanks.**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	31. Chapter 31: School's not out

**Hey** **everypony, I'm so glad you all liked my last chapter.**

**I'd like to thank you all for sticking by me through the story so far.**

**By the way, I decided to have Matt and Twilight's wedding in Ponyville. I got a lot of people saying they would like to see it there.**

**I know a lot of you said Canterlot and that it's a romantic place for a wedding, I understand that and they were all very good points. But a **_**Ponyville wedding**_** is a different turn, don't you think?**

Chapter 31: School's not out

It's been 3 days since Luna confessed her feelings to me. The day after she did, Me and Twilight went over to her castle to check on her.

We had a good long conversation about it and Luna seemed very calm about it, she kept saying that she was fine and that she had already moved on.

Once she made it clear to us, we left her castle and went back to Ponyville. We were glad Luna felt better, now we could stop worrying and focus on our wedding

**Ponyville Library**

Me and Twilight were in the front room of the library. We were both sitting by the table, we sat beside each other as we tried to plan our wedding.

There was a sheet of paper lying in front of us on the table; we were using it to write down the plans. Twilight used her magic to hover a pencil over the paper before she read out what we'd written so far.

"Alright, so we've already booked the gazebo for our altar, the outside of town hall for our reception party area, and Princess Celestia was kind enough to give us a room at her castle for our honeymoon. Isn't this great?" Twilight asked me with a large smile.

I smiled back as I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's coming to together nicely. Just think, Twilight! Soon we'll be like a big whole family. You, me, Spike, Jeff and Peewee."

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "Matt, we're already a family, and that includes you." she said sweetly.

I smiled warmly at her. "Thanks, Twi…I love you."

"I love you too, Matt. And I always will, no matter what." Twilight said.

We then leaned in closer to each other before we kissed passionately; we were so lost in our kiss that we didn't hear the door on the other side of the room open. Spike then walked in to see us kissing.

He then quickly placed his hands over his eyes. "Ahh…look, I'm really happy for you two. But can you please do that somewhere else!" he said.

Me and Twilight heard him; causing us to snap out of our trace. We then broke the kiss before we looked over to Spike. "Sorry, Spike. We were just having a moment." I said as I smiled sheepishly at him.

Spike then removed his hands from his eyes before he walked over to us. Once he reached us, he looked at the sheet of paper on the table "What're you guys doing anyway?" he asked.

"Oh, we were just going over our plans for the wedding. We've made a lot of progress with them." Twilight told him.

Spike smiled. "That's great, Twilight. I'm glad it's going well. Anyway, I just came in to remind a certain _somepony_ about his certain job." He said as he looked at me with a raised eye brow.

I gave him a confused look. "Why is he looking at me like that? And is he talking about my job with Applejack?...wait a minute!" I thought as I became worried.

"What time is it?" I asked out loud before I looked up at the clock on the wall, I then saw that it was nearly 12PM.

"DAMN, I'm nearly late. I've been so busy with the wedding planning that I forgot all about it, I have to go." I quickly said before I rushed past the table and up the stairs.

I then grabbed my saddle bag with my mouth before I threw it onto my back. I then rushed back down the stairs and up to Twilight.

"Sorry that I have to go like this, but I'm gonna be late. I'll see you later, love ya." I quickly said before I gave Twilight a quick peck on the lips before I galloped towards the front door.

"Love you too, Matt. Have a nice day!" Twilight called as she watched me gallop across the room.

"I'll try." I responded before I finally reached the front door. I then used one of my front hooves to grab the doorknob before I quickly opened the door and galloped out the library.

As I galloped farther away from the library, I started to flap my wings before I took off into the air and flew in the direction towards Sweet Apple Arches.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Spike watched me fly away from the doorway. Spike then turned his head to look up at Twilight.

"Huh, you two are the perfect match alright; he freaks out when he's late just like you." Spike said before he walked back into the library.

Twilight just rolled her eyes and she followed him as she closed the front door with her magic.

**Sweet Apple Arches**

After a short flight, I landed in front of Sweet Apple Arches and galloped into the farm land.

Up ahead, I saw Applejack in front of the barn with my delivery cart beside her.

As I got closer to her, Applejack noticed me. "There ya are, I was startin' to wonder if ya'all were comin'." She said.

I then stopped in front of her and panted from exhaustion. "…Sorry, Applejack…I was a bit busy and I…kinda lost track of time…" I said between breaths.

Applejack raised her eye brow. "What were ya doin'?" she asked.

After I caught my breath, I answered her. "I was busy with Twilight, we were planning our wedding and I got a little caught up with it." I said.

Applejack then smiled. "I understand, plannin' a weddin' takes a lot of thinkin'. Besides, ya made it on time, so there's no need to worry. Now, let's get'cha strapped up and ready to go!" she said.

I nodded before I turned around to let her strap the cart onto me.

Applejack then grabbed the shafts of the cart before she pulled it over to me; she then attached the shafts onto my back. Now I was ready to go.

"Alright, ya'all set. I'll see ya when ya get back." Applejack said.

I turned my head to face her. "Thanks, Applejack. See ya later." I said before I started walking towards the farms exit while pulling the cart along behind me.

Applejack waved me off as she watched me walk away.

Once I made it out of the farm, I headed towards town to begin my deliveries.

**Later: Ponyville Schoolhouse **

After making a number of deliveries, I finally came to my last delivery at the Schoolhouse.

I pulled my cart up to the school before I unfastened the straps so the carts shafts weren't attached to my back anymore; causing the cart to tilt forward until the shafts touched the ground.

I then walked around to the cart before I reached my head into it and pulled out a large sack of apples, which was heavy. "Damn, how many apples do these kids need?" I thought.

I dragged the sack over to the front door of the school before I let go of the sack and knocked on the door.

After a few minutes, the door opened to reveal Miss Cheerilee behind it. Once she saw it was me, she smiled. "Why hello, Matthew. What brings you by?" she asked kindly.

I used all my strength to lift the sack up before I placed it down in front of her. "I've brought your lunch deliveries, Miss Cheerilee." I answered.

Cheerilee looked down at the sack and smiled. "Oh yes, of course. Just bring it in and I'll get your pay." She said.

I nodded. "Sure thing." I said before I grabbed the top of the sack with my mouth and Cheerilee walked back into the school with me following behind while dragging the sack with me.

As I entered the Schoolhouse, I looked around at the class room, it was much bigger then it was on the show. I then looked at the fillies and colts; they were each sitting on wooden stools in front of a wooden desk talking amongst each other.

There were a few kids I recognized, like Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Sips, Snails, and unfortunately Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Cheerilee then stopped in front of her desk which was in front of the chalk board before she turned around to face me. "Wait there and I'll get your pay from my desk." She said.

I then placed the sack down in front of me so I could speak. "Alright." I said before Cheerilee walked around behind her desk and started searching through the drawers.

As I waited for Cheerilee to find the money, Applebloom noticed me and smiled. "Hey, it's Matt." she said; catching the attention of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo before they looked over to me.

The three fillies then jumped off from their stools before they walked over to me. Once they were close enough, I noticed them and smiled down at them. "Hey girls, I haven't seen you in a while. How've ya been?" I asked.

"We've been fine." Scootaloo answered.

I then looked at Sweetie Belle. "Hey, Sweetie. I'm glad to see you're feeling better. I was worried about you for a while." I said as I tussled Sweetie's mane with my hoof.

I then removed my hoof before she smiled up at me. "Thanks, Matt. But I don't think I'll be cooking my own food for a while. Ooooh…I can still taste them." she groaned as she held her stomach.

Even though it was a while ago now, I still felt bad for her. "Yeah, sorry you got sick." I said.

Sweetie Belle gave me a sweet smile. "It's ok, I'm much better now."

I gave her a warm smile "I'm glad to hear that. Anyway, any luck gettin' your cutie marks?" I asked.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo then looked down at the floor. "No." they all said in disappointment at the same time.

I gave then a small smile. "Aww its ok, girls. You'll get your cutie marks eventually."

They then looked back up at me. "Well, enough about us! I hear you're gonna marry Twilight, is it true?" Sweetie Belle asked.

I nodded. "Yep, I can't wait. Soon we'll be together forever." I said.

"Awwww." Applebloom and Sweetie Belle said with large smiles, Scootaloo just pointed her hoof in her mouth in disgust.

Meanwhile, Snips was listening in on our conversation. "Did she say 'Matt'?...as in, Matthew?" he asked himself.

Snips didn't take his eyes away as he reached his hoof over to the next desk where Snails was sitting. "Snails!...Snails! Did you hear what she said that guy's name was?" he asked.

Snips didn't get an answer; instead he got the sound of snoring. He looked over to Snails' desk to see him sleeping with his head lying on the desk.

"SNAILS!" Snips yelled in a winey voice, causing Snails to wake up and shoot his head up off the desk.

"DAH, oh, I'm awake." Snails said as he sifted his eye back and forth.

Snips rolled his eyes. "Never mind that! Look over there!" he said in excitement as he pointed at me.

Snail's the looked over to me, but his attention was suddenly taken by the sack of apples behind me. "Mmm…food." He said as he drooled slightly.

Snips face-hooved himself. "Not the sack, the delivery-pony. I think that's Matthew."

Snails then turned his attention to me. "No way." He said in amazement.

At that moment, Snips and Snails jumped up off the stools and walked over to me and the girls.

Once they reached us, they looked up at me. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my GOSH. Are you Matthew? As in, the one who saved Canterlot?" Snips asked in excitement.

I gave him a small smile. "Err…yeah, that's me." I answered.

Snips and Snails then looked at each other in excitement before they looked back up at me. "Oh, this is so cool. I can't believe we're actually meeting you." Snips said.

"Yeah, you were awesome when you fought that Thorn guy up in Canterlot. What was the fight like? Did he nearly kill you?" Snails asked.

I looked down at them with a raised eye. "The fight was the darkest, nastiest experience of my life….and yes, he nearly killed me, but the sun rose up before he could do it." I said.

Snips and Snails stared at me with the mouths open in amazement. "…Awesome." They both said at the same time.

I was slightly confused by this attention from them. "Err…thanks, but it's not that big of a deal anymore, it was just something that'll likely be forgotten eventually." I stated.

Snips and Snails then gasped loudly with their eyes wide opened. "Likely be forgotten? There's not a pony in Ponyville who'd forget that battle." Snips said.

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah, even Granny Smith wouldn't forget somethin' like that. And that's sayin' somethin'." She said.

"That battle was legendary; no one ever expected a pony like you to defeat a pony as evil as Thorn. Snails stated.

I still didn't understand, but I decided to just go along with it. "Well, you know…I was just doing what was right, I guess."

"Yeah, one of the parts of the battle I liked was when you grabbed Thorn by his horn before you spun around and bucked him right in the jaw." Snips said.

I then grew slightly worried. "You haven't been doing that to other ponies, have you?" I asked.

Snips quickly shook his head. "No, I'd never do that. But…can you show me how you did a buck like that? I've been trying to do it, but it doesn't feel right."

Snips then bent his hind-legs up before he bucked then out; it looked kinda slow and weak. "See, I don't think I'm doing it right." He said.

I wasn't sure if I should teach him a move like that, but he said he wouldn't use it in a fight. "If I show you how to do it, will you promise not to use it to hurt anypony?" I said in a firm voice.

Snips quickly nodded in excitement.

"Alright, what you need to do is add a little more thrust to it. Imagine you're trying to knock down an entire tree and you need to use all the strength you got to do it." I said before I bent my hind-legs up.

"Once you've got in position, you focus all your strength into your legs. Before you release them in one…big…BUCK." I said before I shot my hind-legs out.

Unknown to me, the sack of apples were still behind me. My strong buck accidently pushed the sack over and the apples spilled out onto the floor. I heard to sound of the apples falling before I placed my hind-legs back on the floor and looked behind me to see the mess I made.

"…Oops." Was all I said.

Just then, Cheerilee brought her head up from out of her desk drawers with a small brown bag in her mouth. She then started to walk back around the desk to reach me.

"Here you are, Matthew." Cheerilee muffled.

Suddenly, she stepped on one of the apples on the floor and started to lose her balance. As she started wobbling around, her other hoof stepped on another apple. Soon enough, she was wobbling around the spot like there was no floor for her to stand on.

Eventually, Cheerilee slipped over and the apples splattered underneath her as she landed on them. However, it was not over for her. The apple gunk underneath her was slippery, eventually causing her to slide towards the kids desks.

The other kids watched her with shocked faces as Cheerilee slid passed them with great speed, until she crashed against the back wall with a loud crash and smash sound.

Me, the girls, Snips and Snails just stood there with our eyes wide and our mouths hanging. We were all stunned.

"…Oooh…that's gonna leave a mark." Scootaloo stated.

**Moments later**

Apparently, the crash had broken one of Cheerilee's hind-legs. We managed to get a medical-carriage to take her to the hospital. I felt so guilty about this.

Two medical ponies carried Cheerilee out of the school on a Stretcher. Which was on wheels because they couldn't carry it, instead they pushed it along with their heads.

As they stopped behind the carriage, I walked up beside Cheerilee and looked down at her as she lay on the Stretcher. "Miss Cheerilee, I'm so sorry. It was all my fault, I didn't mean for that to happen." I said.

Cheerilee lifted her head up and smiled. "It's ok, Matt. I know it was an accident, but I guess I won't be teaching today." She said.

Cheerilee then turned her head to face all the kids who were standing outside the school. "Alright, _my little ponies_. I'm afraid school will have to be cancelled for today." She announced.

Even though they didn't react, I knew they were thrilled about this news.

I looked back down at Cheerilee. "Cheerilee, if there's anything you want me to do while you're gone, just let me know!"

"Well…there is one thing." Cheerilee said.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. It'll be too much to place on you." Cheerilee stated.

"Miss Cheerilee, please! I want to help you, just tell me what you want me to do!" I said calmly.

"Well you see, I won't be able to teach for a while, and I need someone to fill in for me…so…do you think _you_ could do it?" Cheerilee asked.

My eyes then widened before my left one twitched slightly. "W-W-What?" I stuttered.

"Please, it's only for a few days. Besides, you're the only pony I can get at such short notice. Please, Matthew." Cheerilee begged.

I looked into her eyes to see that she was really desperate, and I just couldn't say no to a cry-for-help like that. "(Sigh)…fine." I groaned.

Cheerilee smiled in delight. "Oh, thank you, Matthew. You don't know how much this means to me."

"Yeah, well…I'll do my best." I said in an unexcited tone.

At that moment, the two medical ponies managed to use their front hooves to lift the Cheerilee's Stretcher up before they placed her in the back of the carriage.

"Thanks again, Matthew. I appreciate this very much." Cheerilee said.

The medical ponies then climbed into the carriage with her before they closed the back doors, the pony in front of the carriage then started pulled it away before taking it down the path that lead to the hospital; leaving me alone with all the kids.

There was a moment silence, until. "School's out early." Snails cheered before the rest of the kids galloped into the town while cheering.

I looked behind me to see that only Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were still here. I gave them a small smile. "Come on, girls! I'll walk you all home." I said.

I then started to walk into town with the three fillies following behind. However, I couldn't help but think about what I was going to do tomorrow. "What am I going to do? I can't teach these kids, I don't have any experience as a teacher. Plus, I hate school, I always have. The last thing I want to do is be a teacher." I thought with worry.

My thoughts kept bothering me as I took Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to each of their homes.

**The next day: Library**

We soon got a message from the hospital about Cheerilee's condition; it said that she wouldn't be able to teach the school for a few weeks, which kinda made things harder for me.

I was sitting in front of Twilight's large mirror with Twilight standing behind me while using her magic to try and tie a small black bow-tie around my neck.

"Twilight, I don't know if I can do this." I said nervously.

"Well, what can we do, Matt? Miss Cheerilee can't teach until her leg heals, and somepony needs to step in for her." Twilight said before she finished tying the bow-tie.

I got up and turned around to face her. "Oooh, why can't you do it? I mean, you _are_ smarter than me. Imagine what you could teach these kids!" I said.

Twilight gave me a small smile. "Matt, its sweet of you to think that. But Miss Cheerilee asked you to do it, and it's kinda your fault she's hurt in the first place, so you basically owe her." She said.

"It was an accident; you know I didn't mean to hurt her." I argued.

Twilight then placed her hoof on my shoulder. "Of course I do, but she left the school in your hooves. Besides, it's just for a few weeks. You can cope until then, right?"

"But what about my job working for Applejack? I can't deliver her supplies if I'm teaching at the Schoolhouse." I said.

Twilight then removed her hoof from my shoulder. "Don't worry about that! I told Applejack about what happened and she's agreed to let you stay off while you're filling in for Miss Cheerilee. She said that Big Macintosh is more than willing to deliver the supplies while you're gone."

I let out a small groan as I hung my head slightly; Twilight then placed her hoof under my chin before she slowly lifted my head up to look in my eyes. She gave me a sweet smile. "You'll be fine, Matt. I think what you're doing is a great thing."

I gave her a small smile before I took a quiet deep breath and exhaled. "Ok…I'm ready." I said.

Me and Twilight then walked down stairs and up towards the front door of the library. Once we reached it, I turned my head to face Twilight beside me.

"See ya, Twi. I love you." I said before we shared a small kiss on the lips.

"Love you too, Matt." Twilight said sweetly before she used her magic to open the front door, I then walked out of the library.

"Good luck." I heard Twilight say kindly before she closed the door behind me.

I let out a small sigh before I walked into town and started heading to the Schoolhouse.

**Later: Schoolhouse**

It was early in the day and I had already set myself behind Cheerilee's desk.

All the kids were outside on the playground while they were waiting for the bell to ring which will tell them to come inside to start the day.

I was so nervous; I tried to calm myself by focusing on something else. For the last few minutes, I was trying to balance a pencil on the palm of my hoof, which wasn't as easy as it sounded.

Yet, I was still nervous. Every time I dropped the pencil, I was reminded where I was and what I was about to do. I picked up the pencil in my mouth before I placed it down on the desk. "Damn, I'm so nervous. I just know I'm gonna do something wrong." I thought.

I then noticed a red apple sitting on the left side of the desk; I managed to pick it up with my hoof as I looked at it. "Why doesn't Cheerilee ever eat these things? Maybe this will calm my nerves." I thought.

"Hold up, this is Cheerilee's apple, should I take it?" I asked myself. I gave it some thought before I made my decision.

"Ehh, I can get her another one. I _do_ work for Applejack after all." I said.

I then took a bite out of the apple and I thought calming thoughts as I tasted the flavour.

Suddenly, there was a loud ringing noise which caused me to flinch in fright. I then recognized the sound as the school bell ringing, I knew it just a few seconds before the kids would come in and I'd have to start the lesson.

I placed the apple back down on the desk before I stroked my hoof though my mane to make it look a little better. I then put on a fake smile.

At that moment, the front door opened and the kids came in. I was relieved to see that Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had come in; I know they would help me if I mess up.

After all the fillies and colts sat down behind each of their desks, I got up and walked around the desk so I could start. "Ok, umm…good morning, kids. My name is Matthew and I'll be your substitute-teacher until Miss Cheerilee comes back."

At that moment, I saw a small pink hoof rise up. I looked to see it belonged to Diamond Tiara. "Err, yes, Diamond Tiara?" I asked.

Diamond Tiara lowered her hoof. "Aren't you the pony who caused Miss Cheerilee to break her leg in the first place?" she asked with a raised eye brow.

My fake smile then faded. "Well…yeah, but it was an accident. Plus, she asked me to fill in for her." I answered.

I then turned my attention to the rest of the kids. "I guess we should get started, huh? So, can anypony tell me where-"

I was interrupted my Diamond Tiara raising her hoof again. "Diamond Tiara?" I asked.

Diamond Tiara lowered her hoof back down. "I've heard of you, and I have a question….do you have _any_ teaching experience?" she asked.

I began to sweat slightly before my fake smile returned. "Yeah, sure I do. I wouldn't be here if I didn't." I lied.

I once again turned to the rest of the kids. "Anyway, can anypony tell me where Miss Cheerilee left you off before…emm, the incident?"

"Oh, Miss Cheerilee was gonna let us go out into the playground and let us learn about…errr…air and stuff." Snips said in a suspicious voice.

I knew very well that he was trying to trick me. "Riiiiight."

I then turned to the other kids. "Anypony I can trust?" I asked; Snips groaned in failure.

Some of the kids all raised their hooves; I looked around until I saw Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie Belle!" I said as I pointed my hoof at her.

Sweetie Belle then lowered her hoof. "Miss Cheerilee was teaching us about geography, we have to read these textbooks." She said as she pointed to a big blue book on her desk.

I looked around to see that the other kids had the same type of book on their desks. "…Oh, ok then." I said.

I then walked back around behind my desk before I sat down, I looked down to see a blue book in front of me, it was the same type of book as the kids had.

I picked it up with my hooves before I opened it, the kids then did the same. "Alright, kids. Turn to page….errr." I said in confusion.

I flipped through the pages and didn't understand any of it; geography was never my best subject. In fact, I hated it all together.

I then decided to take things in a different direction.

"Alright, new plan. This is too hard, throw the books away." I said before I tossed the book behind me and it hit the chalkboard

The kids just sat there while staring at me with their books still in their hooves. "Go on, throw them away!" I said.

All the kids then did as I said and tossed the books behind them, the books all piled up in the back of the room.

I then walked back around to the front of my desk. "Alright, did Miss Cheerilee leave you any other kind of work to do?" I asked.

The room was silent before Applebloom raised her hoof. "Yeah, Applebloom?" I asked.

Applebloom then lowered her hoof. "Well…we did start readin' up on _Pony History_ once before, but we never got around to finishin' it." she said.

I smiled. "Oh good, you guys do that and I'll see what I can do back here." I said before I started searching around my desk for something to work on.

As the kids jumped off the stools to get their history books, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started whispering to each other.

"This guy is so lame, he can't even think up a subject for us to learn." Diamond Tiara said with a cold smirk.

"I know. This guy _may_ be a hero, but he's certainly _not_ teacher material. I'll give him at least three days before he cracks and runs home crying." Silver Spoon said with a mean smile.

"Three days? I'll give him the next ten minutes." Diamond Tiara said before they both snickered.

Unknown to them, Applebloom, Sweetie Bella and Scootaloo were listening in on them. They glared sharply at the mean fillies before Scootaloo let out a small grunt through her nostrils.

**One hour later**

While the kids read their history books quietly, I leaned back as far as I could go on my chair while staring up at the ceiling. I was bored out of my mind.

Even though this started an hour ago, it felt like forever. The only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock hanging up on the wall.

"When is that damn bell gonna ring? I hate all this waiting." I thought before I placed my hooves over my eyes in frustration. I then tried to entertain myself by looking through Cheerilee's desk drawers.

There were a lot of sheets of paper in one of them, so I decided to leave that one and shut the drawer. I then opened one of the other ones to see a first-aid kit, I figured Cheerilee kept it here in case any of the kids got hurt. I then closed that drawer.

I opened the next one to see a clip-board, and the last one was empty. Now that I think about it, it wasn't very entertaining after all. I then closed the drawers before I resumed leaning back on my chair and looking up at the ceiling in boredom.

After a few short minutes, the bell rang and all the kids placed their books down. I looked up at the clock and smiled in delight. "Finally." I said under my breath.

I walked back around to the front of my desk as I looked at the kids. "Alright, kids. Time for recess, have fun!" I said.

All the kids then jumped off their stools before they walked towards the front door. Once they reached it, they all walked outside into the playground. I then followed them.

Once I got settled on the playground, I sat quietly on the grass as I watched the kids play in the yard.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were sitting by the bench as they wrote down new ideas on how they could get their cutie marks.

Snips and Snails were playing hide-and-seek with some of the other kids. However, Snails wasn't a good hider. He was hiding his head in the ground like an Ostrich.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were just reading their magazines that they brought in their saddlebags.

I got a little board of just sitting there, so I got up and walked over towards Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to see what they had thought up to get their cutie marks.

Once I reached them, I hovered my head over them and looked down at their notes. "…What'cha doing, girls?" I asked; causing the girls to jump with fright.

Once they saw it was me, they calmed down. "Matt…ya done went and scared the daylights out of me." Applebloom said.

I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry…so, have you three thought up any ideas on how to get your cutie marks?" I asked.

The girls smiled before Scootaloo picked up their note-pad and showed it to me.

"Yeah, we've got tons of new ideas. First, we're gonna go over to the lake to see if we're good a scuba-diving. If that doesn't work, we're gonna try to be chimney-sweeps. And if that doesn't work, we're gonna-" Scootaloo said before I interrupted.

"That's all very good, girls. But this is recess, you should be having fun." I said before I got an idea.

"Hey maybe if you play some kind of game, you might find you have a talent in it." I suggested.

The girls then looked at each other before they looked back up to me. "Do you think that'll work?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Could do, you won't know unless you find out." I said.

Scootaloo then grew a smirk on her face. "Ok, Matt. we'll play something…how about…tag?"

At that moment, Scootaloo quickly poked my chest with her hoof. "Tag, you're it." she called before she, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle galloped off in different directions.

I was surprised by the sudden act. "They want me to play with them? Didn't see that coming." I thought.

I then smirked as I let out a small chuckle. "Alright then, I'll play along." I said before I galloped off after Sweetie Belle.

I was inches away from her; she was fast for a little filly. Once I got close enough, I touched her back with my hoof. "You're it." I called.

I then turned around and galloped away from Sweetie Belle, she giggled before she started galloping after me. Sweetie Belle found it a bit hard to keep up with me, so she went after Scootaloo.

I watched as Scootaloo galloped as fast as she could away from Sweetie Belle, who was getting closer to her. Sweetie Belle then tagged Scootaloo before they changed positions. Now Scootaloo was chasing Sweetie Belle.

The funny thing is, I don't really like games like tag. But there was something about these three fillies that made me actually want to do it.

It was as if I was like a father who wanted to play with his daughters just to see them smile.

Sweetie Belle was actually out-running Scootaloo, Scootaloo was starting to tire out until she saw Applebloom. She grinned before she stopped chasing Sweetie Belle and went after Applebloom.

Applebloom noticed her before she started galloping faster, it wasn't long before Scootaloo reached her and tagged her. Now Applebloom was chasing Scootaloo.

However, Scootaloo was a fast runner. Applebloom put all her strength and effort into her own running, now they were running really fast…a little _too_ fast.

I began to grow concerned for them. "Err…girls, you might want to slow down a bit. You're both going a bit too fast." I said as I watched them gallop past me.

As she ran as fast as she could, Applebloom looked back at me. "Don't worry, Matt! I run around the farm all the time and not once did I ever fa-AHHH."

Applebloom couldn't finish her sentence as she tripped over and hit the grass covered ground with a hard thud, I gasped before I galloped over to her.

Once I reached her, I gave her a concerned look as she slowly got up. "Applebloom, are you alright?" I asked in worry.

Applebloom then sat on the ground before she looked at the knee of her left leg; it had a small cut with dirt covering around it. Applebloom held her knee with her front hooves.

As Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo came over to us, I looked at her injury before I looked at the sadness in Applebloom's eyes. "It's alright, Applebloom, It's just a scratch. Come on! I'll take you back inside to get that patched up." I said sweetly.

I then lowered my body down to her level so she could climb up onto my back. Once she was on, I headed back inside to take care of her; leaving Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo watching us with concern.

Once inside, Applebloom was sitting on a stool while continuing to hold her knee in pain. I walked round to the back of my desk and opened the drawer which had the first-aid kit in it.

I took it out with my mouth and placed in on my desk before I opened it; revealing all sorts of medical things.

I then saw wet-wipes in a small plastic bag; I knew I could use those to clean the dirt from her knee. I opened the bag before I took one out with my mouth and walked over to Applebloom.

Once I was in front of her, I lifted my hoof and placed the wet-wipe on it so I could talk. "Ok, Applebloom. Just hold still so I can clean your knee!" I said.

Applebloom then removed her hooves from her knee before I slowly moved the wet-wipe towards it. I gently touched her knee with the wet-wipe before I slowly rubbed it; causing Applebloom to make a small whimpering sound.

I knew it must sting a little, but I could see that the dirt and the tiny amount of blood were clearing away as I wiped her knee.

Once her knee was clean, I pulled the dirty wet-wipe away from her. I then threw the wet-wipe in the bin next to the desk before I walked back to the open first-aid kit. I then saw a bottle of disinfectant and a small plastic bag of cotton-buds.

I knew it was going to sting her, but I didn't want her to get ill either. So I opened the bag and took out a cotton-bud, I then opened the disinfectant lid with my mouth before I held the cotton-bud on top of the bottle with my hoof.

I then managed the grab the bottle with my other hoof before I tipped the bottle over while still holding the cotton-bud on the top; I shook the bottle a few times to get some of the disinfectant onto the cotton-bud.

Once I knew it absorbed some, I stood the bottle back up before I walked back over to Applebloom while holding the cotton-bud on the palm of my hoof.

I gave her an honest look. "Ok, Applebloom. This might sting a bit, but it'll help." I said calmly.

Applebloom remained silent as she nodded; she then closed her eyes tight and prepared to feel whatever was coming.

I slowly moved the damp cotton-bud towards her injured knee before I carefully started dabbing the disinfectant on her wound.

Applebloom held her breath as she flinched slightly. "It's alright, Applebloom. Just relax and it'll be done before you know it." I said trying to calm her down.

Applebloom looked at me before she exhaled her breath, she then relaxed her leg; allowing me to continue, which I did.

After I few more dabs with the cotton-bud, I was done and her injury was covered with runny liquid. I gave her a proud smile. "See, that wasn't so bad. Now I'll just put a band-aid on it and we'll be done." I said.

I then threw the cotton-bud in the bin before I looked back into the first aid kit. I easily saw the box of band-aids and I took one out with my mouth before I walked back over to Applebloom.

Once I reached her, I held the band-aid on my hoof as I used my mouth to peel off the peelings before I moved it towards Applebloom's knee.

I stuck the band-aid carefully over Applebloom's wound before I gave it a gentle pat to make sure it was stuck on right. "All done." I said.

Applebloom then looked at her knee and smiled, something I really wanted to see from her at this point. She then looked at me with a sweet smile. "Thanks, Matt. I feel kinda better now." She said before she wrapped her small arms around my neck and gave me a soft hug.

I was surprised by this sudden embrace; I then smiled warmly before I hugged her back. "It's alright, Applebloom." I said quietly as I stroked the back of her head with my hoof.

The hug felt soft and warm, I began to realise why Cheerilee liked her job so much. She didn't do it _just_ to teach kids, she did it so she could _spend time_ with them and make them happy. I felt as though…I now wanted to be here with all these kids.

Me and Applebloom then broke the hug before I smiled down at her. "Hey, there's still a few minutes of recess left. Wanna go back outside?" I asked.

Applebloom nodded. "Yeah, I'll probably take things a little slower this time." She said before she walked past me.

I chuckled. "Yeah, that may be the best idea." I joked before I followed her back out into the playground.

**Many minutes later **

Once again, all the kids were quietly reading their history books while I was sitting behind my desk waiting for the next bell to ring.

I was also bored again. "This is starting to get dull…(bored sigh)…what can I do to pass the time?" I thought.

I then looked over to the book-shelf across the room and I grew curious. "Hmm…maybe there's an interesting book I can read." I said to myself before I got up and walked towards the book-shelf.

Once I reached the book-shelf, I looked threw the row of books to see if there were any I might like. I then saw a book that said the words _Myths & Legends_ on the spine, I then shrugged. "I always did like these kind of books." I said.

I then grabbed the book with my mouth before I pulled it out from the row of books and brought it back to my desk. I placed it down on my desk before I sat back down behind it.

I then grabbed the book with my hooves before I opened it and started flipping through the pages.

See how this world already contained mythical creatures, there wasn't much about them in the book. It was more about lands and cities that may or may-not be real. Some creatures were mentioned, but I've never heard of creatures like them.

As I continued flipping, I found a page with a picture of a giant, shiny, blue castle. "Oh, what's this?" I asked myself.

I read the title of the page and gave it a confused look. "_The Crystal Empire_?" I said before I read through it, though I wasn't taking much interest.

"Let's see!..._Crystal Ponies_…blah, blah, blah…_evil king_…blah, blah, blah…_mysteriously disappeared and hasn't been seen for at least a thousand years_." I read.

I then smiled in amusement. "Yeah right, what's next? Atlantis?" I joked before I turned over to the next page.

As I turned threw many pages, I found one which had a picture of a dark scary looking mountain. I then read the title of the page. "_Mount Forbidden_…well, this is more like it." I said before I started reading the story.

"_For many, many years, even before Celestia and Luna claimed their thrones, a giant mountain has casted a dark shadow in Equestria. Ponies would only talk of the mountain is whispers, because they believed it was the only dark point in the land at that time. All ponies where forbidden to go into the land for their safety, hence the name. _

_The mountain is surrounded by dead land covered in sharp rocks and deep trenches, which also have sharp rocks at the bottom. _

_There is a cloud of thick fog that spreads a bit beyond the lands edge; ponies who have gone in the fog have claimed to have heard whispers in it, voices crying out for help and mercy. Mercy from what, we do not know._

_Nopony has ever dared to climb or even go near the dead lands; even the birds don't fly over it. If any pony has attempted to explore the darkened land, they have never returned to tell of their discoveries. Ever they've fallen to the sharp rocks that cover the land, had got stuck and died there, or they have been devoured by any kind of creature that would live there. But nopony has the slightest idea what kind of creature would even want to live there._

_The land is uninhabited, though ponies who live near the mountain have claimed to have seen a mysterious green glow coming from the caves inside the mountain at night. It is uncertain if this confirms any intelligent life living within the walls of the mountain, but many are willing to believe._

_Some call it Cursed, some call it The Underworld Come to Life, but most ponies call it…The Land of Evil."_

*RIIIIIIIIIIING*

I jumped back on my stool in fright as the lunch bell rang; my frightened act attracted the attention of the kids. "Matt, are you ok?" Scootaloo asked.

I looked at her before I placed the book down. "Huh? Oh…yeah, I'm alright. Time for lunch, everypony." I said.

As the kids all went outside to eat in the warm sun, I looked down at the book. "Whow…that's a powerful book, I actually have chills." I chuckled.

I then took the book back to the book-shelf before I placed it back; I then headed towards the door to join the kids.

Once I reached the doorway, I felt a cold shiver down my spine as I thought about what I just read. I looked back at the book-shelf and gave the book a surreptitious look. I then decided to forget about it and I continued walking into the playground.

The kids were all sat by benches as they ate their lunch which Big Macintosh brought before, looks like he really is filling in for me. I was eating alone in silent as I ate my apples.

I tried to block it out, but the thought of the story in that book kept creeping up in my mind. "That story was kinda creepy, all the dark stuff it said about that place, it sounded like hell. Oh, what am I thinking? It was a book about myths and legends, they're not _all_ real, most of the stories in that book are probably make-believe." I thought.

Just then, I felt a hoof tap my right side. I turned my head to see a small white colt with large light brown spots on his coat; he had an apple in his mouth. "What's up, little fella?" I asked.

The young colt placed his apple down on the ground before he spoke. "Excuse me, Mr Matthew! But can I sit next to you while I eat? There's no room left on the benches." He said in a British voice, which surprised me.

After hearing the sound of his voice, I knew straight away that he was Pipsqueak. I just didn't recognize him without the pirate costume.

I smiled down at him. "Ok then." I said before I moved over across the bench to give him some room to sit beside me, I then took a bite out of my apple.

Pipsqueak then picked up his apple before he sat beside me; he then started to eat his apple. As we both ate, I looked down at him before I swallowed a chewed up chuck of my apple. "So…you're British too, huh?" I said.

Pip looked at me before he swallowed his chuck of apple. "I guess so, but your British voice sounds different to mine."

"Oh, that's because I'm from the North-West of Britain, your voice sounds more like…Cockney." I said.

"Oh." Pip said before we both went back to eating, it didn't last long before Pip turned his head back to face me.

"So, are you really the pony who fought Thorn and saved Canterlot?" Pip asked curiously.

I then looked down at him before I swallowed the chuck of apple. "Yeah, I am." I answered.

Pip smiled in amazement. "Wow, you saved Princess Luna that night. She's my favourite Princess ever."

I chuckled. "Believe me, Pip. I know." I said.

Pip gave me a confused look. "How do you know my name?" he asked.

My eyes widened slightly. "Errr…my fiancé, Twilight, told me about you. She said that you dressed up like a pirate for Nightmare Night last year." I said hoping he'd believe me.

Pip then smiled again. "Oh, alright then." He said before we both went back to eating our apples once again.

Once again, Pip looked up at me. "Thanks, by the way, for letting me sit with you. Sometimes, nopony would let me sit next to them."

I looked down at him with a raised eye brow. "Why, can't you sit with those friends who were with you on Nightmare Night?"

"Yeah, but all the seats on their bench are taken." Pip said.

"Well, don't worry! When you have nowhere to sit, you can sit next to me." I stated with a smile.

Pip smiled warmly up at me. "Thanks, Mr Matthew." He said.

We then continued eating for the rest of lunch.

**Many minutes later**

It was finally getting to that time; it'll be time for the kids to go home any minute now.

As I sat behind my desk, I looked up at the tickling clock to see it wasn't long before the bell would ring; the kids were spending these last few minutes talking amongst each other.

I then got up off my stool and walked around to the front of my desk so I was in front of the kids. I then cleared my throat. "Emm…excuse me, kids! Can I say somethin'?" I said.

The kids then went silent as they looked at me. Once I saw that all the kids were looking at me, I spoke. "Ok, I just want to say that…I've really enjoyed being your teacher today. I really proud of all of you for being so good with me, you all really made my first day easy. Thank you."

All the kids had proud smiles on their faces, except for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon who both had unsatisfied looks on their faces with their arms crossed.

I looked back up at the clock to see that it was a minute away before they bell; I then looked back at the kids. "Well, it's been a good day. Again, I'm very proud of you all and I hope you've enjoyed today."

"Yeah right." Diamond Tiara said under her breath before I continued.

"So, get all your things, put them in your saddle bags and I'll see you all tomorrow…bye." I said with a small wave.

"Wait, Matt? What about the campin' trip?" Applebloom asked out loud.

I gave her a confused look. "Camping trip? What camping trip?" I asked curiously.

"Miss Cheerilee was gonna take us on a camping trip in two weeks, she said it would be a good way to learn about nature and how to survive in it." Sweetie Belle explained.

"Well…what do you want me to say about it?" I asked.

"You're supposed to tell us what to bring for the trip. You know, stuff like that." Scootaloo said.

I got the idea now, and I quickly thought up something. "Oh right…errr…bring your own sleeping-bag or tent, whatever fits you! Bring a flashlight…err…you know, things you might need when you're camping. Can everypony do that?" I asked.

At that moment, all the kids nodded. I was glad they could all bring their own things; I wouldn't have any idea on how to get the things for them. Suddenly, the bell rang.

"Ok, I guess we're all settled with the camping thing. Enjoy the rest of your day! I hope to see you all tomorrow." I said.

With that, all the kids jumped off their stools before they grabbed their saddle bags and headed towards the exit. I was the first one to walk out.

I stood by the schools entrance as I watched the kids walked past me. Snips and Snails came out and stopped before they looked up at me. "Hey Matt, that was a really easy day. Why can't all school days be like this?" Snips asked.

I shrugged. "It's school, it's supposed to be boring." I joked before we both shared a chuckle.

"See you tomorrow, Matt." Snails said before he and Snails continued to walk out of the school.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon came out next and looked up at me. "Those lessons were a waste of time; all we did was sit at our desks while reading history books." Diamond Tiara complained.

"It's my first day, what did you expect? Plus, they were history books, so you technically learned something." I stated.

Diamond Tiara let out a loud groan before she and Silver Spoon continued to walk away.

Pipsqueak then came out. "Thanks for today, Mr Matthew. And thanks for letting me sit with you during lunch." He said kindly.

I smiled warmly down at him. "No problem, Pip. Maybe you can sit next to me tomorrow."

Pip grew a large smile. "Really?" he said in excitement.

I chuckled. "Really, kid." I said before I tussled his mane with my hoof. Pip then also continued to walk away.

After the other fillies and colts left, Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were the last ones out. They smiled up at me. "Not bad for your first day, Matt." Scootaloo said with a smirk.

"Thanks, Scootaloo. Was I really good? I'm not so sure." I said with an unsure look on my face.

"Trust us! You were fine. It'll take a few days to get the hang of it, but you'll get there." Sweetie Belle said with confidence.

As Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle left, Applebloom walked up to me with a sweet smile. "Thanks for fixin' my knee before, Matt. I owe ya one." She stated.

I smiled down at her. "You don't owe me anything; just take it easy when you're playing rough! Ok?"

"Don't worry! I will. See ya tomorrow, Matt." Applebloom said as she walked away to follow the others.

Once the kids were out of sight, I locked up the school and started making my way to the library.

"Well, today went better than I thought. It might get harder eventually, but I think I'll manage somehow. I might go see Cheerilee and ask if she has some pointers on how to do this job right. I'll see her sometime later, right now I just want to get home to Twilight and rest." I thought as I walked into the streets of Ponyville.

**That night: Library**

We all had already gone to bed and were asleep, everyone except me.

I was sitting up on the bed with a book in my hooves; I had the bed-side table lamp on so I could see. I couldn't believe it really, I was up reading while Twilight was sleeping, crazy.

I was reading up on how to camp, I never when camping that much back in England.

Just then, Twilight rolled her body over to face me. The glow from the lamp caused Twilight to slowly wake up to see me reading. She leaned up slightly and rubbed one of her eye with her hoof.

"Matt…(yawn)…it's the middle of the night, don't you think you should stop reading and go to sleep?" Twilight asked.

An awkward look then came on her face. "Wow, that sounded wired coming from me. Anyway, why are you reading so late?"

I turned my head to face Twilight before I showed her the cover so she could see the title; it said '_How to camp in the wilderness_'.

"I have to know how to camp before the camping trip with the kids; Cheerilee was apparently going to take them out camping to learn about nature and stuff." I explained.

"Matt, I'm glad you feel more confinable about this teaching thing, and I'm glad you're taking an interest in what you're doing with them, but do you really need to read the book _now_? I mean, when is this camping trip anyway?" Twilight asked.

"Err…two weeks." I answered with a sheepish smile, Twilight then looked at me with narrow eyes.

"Fine, I'll read it tomorrow." I said groaned before I closed the book and placed it down on the counter beside the lamp, I then turned the lamp off.

I gave Twilight a small kiss on the cheek before I laid down on the bed and rested my head on the pillow. Twilight then rested her head on her pillow before she closed her eyes. "Goodnight, Matt."

"Goodnight, Twilight." I said quietly before I closed my eyes to sleep.

**Meanwhile: Mount Forbidden **

The leader alicorn was sitting in front of the large green pool; he had his eyes closed as he breathed silently through his nose. He looked like he was in deep thought.

At that moment, Zelga came into the room.

Without her even saying a word, the alicorn growled as he slowly opened his blood red eyes. "Zelga…this had better be important, I was trying to find some peace." He said.

Zelga bowed her head. "Apologies, brother. But I have news about our little puppet." She said with a devious grin.

The alicorn slowly turned his head to face her. "You have given Luna the potion scroll?" he asked.

"…Yes, brother." Zelga answered.

The alicorn chuckled darkly. "And…she's plans to make it and use it on Matthew?"

Zelga hesitated for a second before she answered. "She…hasn't decided yet." She admitted.

The alicorn's grin then faded. "That's disappointing; maybe your plan isn't as good as you thought." he said in a cold voice.

"N-No, brother. I-It will work, I promise you." Zelga said in a slightly frightened voice.

"It had better, because if it doesn't…I won't be pleased." He growled with a snarl.

"Trust me, brother!...Luna's in a mid-life crises right now, she's miserable. Her only option to help herself is to use the potion." Zelga stated.

The alicorn grinned as he stood up on his hooves, his wings made a sound that sounded like bits of metal tapping together as he stood.

"Hahaha. Soon...Luna will make the potion; Matthew will drink it and fall deeply in love with her. Little does the dear Princess know is that the love potion is very strong. Once Matthew drinks it, he will be so in love with Luna that he won't care what happens to Ponyville or Canterlot, he won't even notice us as we destroy the very town he loves." Zelga said with a wicked smile.

"And when the potion wares off, he will see all the destruction that he _let_ happen, He'll be so ashamed with himself. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended his own life to get away from the pain. Haha." The alicorn laughed with a dark voice.

The alicorn then walked up to Zelga as if he was going to walk pasted her. He stopped beside her and turned his head to face her.

"Pray she doesn't disappoint me, Zelga! Because if she does, you fail me. And nopony fails me…and lives." He threatened before he continued walking past her; leaving Zelga in a frighten stun.

As the leader alicorn walked out of the room, the other male alicorn came out from the shadows and walked up to Zelga.

His mane and tail were formed completely out of red flames.

"Why do we let him do this? We're his siblings and he treats us like useless filth. Why, if I was in-charge I'd-" the alicorn said before he was interrupted.

"Be dead in a few days, there's a reason he's the leader and you are not. We do exactly as he says, no arguments!" Zelga stated in a growl.

The alicorn growled with his teeth bearing. "Why can't you admit our brother is unfit to be leader? Thorn is dead because he decided Thorn should go through with his plan alone. We should have done it together."

"You seem to forget who our brother is _and_ what he can do, do you really desire to disagree with his rule over this mountain? With his orders?" Zelga asked with a glare.

"…N-No…" the alicorn growled while looking down at the floor.

Zelga nodded. "Good…now be a good boy and listen to your superiors! I need to attend to our little…secret weapon." She said in a sly voice as she rubbed the alicorn's chin with her hoof.

Zelga then removed her hoof before she turned and walked towards the exit that lead to the stone hallway; leaving the alicorn alone.

He glared sharply before he walked over to the green pool; he looked at his reflection as the water bubbled.

"Very well, stay in our brother's shadow! But mark my words, dear sister! His rule…will come to an end…and when it does, mine will begin." He said deviously under his breath.

He grinned as he chuckled, his chuckle soon turned into a loudly evil laugh.

The water from the green pool started to glow brighter and brighter every second; creating a green glow that could be see through-out the caves of the mountain along with the sound of the evil laughter.

**Hope you liked the chapter.**

**I'm so excited for the first episode of season 3 on November 10****th****. Let's look at the summary again, shall we?**

"_**A magical empire has suddenly appeared in the arctic north of Equestria, and Princess Celestia needs Twilight Sparkle and her friends to find a way to protect it. While her friends try to keep the Crystal Ponies occupied at the Crystal Fair, Twilight Sparkle searches for the hidden Crystal Heart that is the key to keeping their empire safe from harm**_**."**

**Awesome stuff XD**

**Anyway, I want to know how you're gonna watch it. So I've set up a vote on my profile.**

**The choices are.**

**:**_**I'm watching it on the day it airs**_**.**

**Or :**_**I have to watch it on YouTube**_**.**

**Also, I wouldn't expect my next chapter to come out before the episode airs, I'm gonna focus on that right now. Don't worry! This story will continue.**

**The next chapter might come out before then, depends on how fast it's done.**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up in November or sooner.**

**Happy Nightmare Night, everypony. **


	32. Chapter 32: Camp Spring

**Sorry it's took so long, I've been ill lately. Stuff that involve scratching, painfully bad skin, and a blood test. It's kinda an ugly story.**

**Anyway, the votes are in. 11 people like watching new episodes on YouTube, while 4 people like to watch them when they air for the first time.**

**I get why you like it on YouTube, but remember everypony! The shows popularity grows by the number of people who watch it on TV. If we want to see a Season 4, we need to get as many people watching the new episodes on TV as possible.**

**I can't do this, because I live in Britain and we don't get The Hub. So I have to watch new episodes on YouTube.**

**So here's something you can do. Watch each new episode on TV when it airs, then watch it as many times as you want on YouTube.**

**This is a suggestion, but it will help Season 3 become as popular as the last 2 seasons.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter! (Warning: long chapter…again)**

Chapter 32: Camp Spring

It's been 2 weeks since I started filling in for Miss Cheerilee after she broke her leg in an accident…mostly caused by me.

Cheerilee is out of the hospital, but she's wearing a cast on her leg in a wheelchair. She's still not fit to teach again yet, but she's getting better.

Over those weeks, the kids and I have grown a connection. They really like me teaching them, and I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would.

**Ponyville Schoolhouse**

It was nearly the end of the day, I was teaching the kids about animals and how different types survive their environment.

I was standing in front of the calk-board with a picture of different animals drawn on it with calk. All the kids watch me as I talked.

"Ok, lizards are cold-blooded, so they need to stay in a hot environment to stay alive. Creatures like frogs are amphibian, meaning they can stay underwater longer than normal animals can. Any questions?" I asked the kids.

The room was silent until Applebloom raised her hoof. "Yeah, Applebloom?" I asked.

"Yeah, I've got a question about my pigs. One time, two pigs went into their pen and the female stayed in there for months. And when she finally came out, there was a smaller pig with her. How'd that happen?" Applebloom asked innocently.

I knew exactly how it happened, but I couldn't tell her about stuff like that just yet. I stared at her in silence before I spoke. "Errr….sorry, that's a different class."

"This is the _only_ class." Silver Spoon stated with a raised eye brow.

I rolled my eyes before I looked over to her. "Different school, then." I responded.

I then looked back at Applebloom. "Sorry, Applebloom. But that's probably a question you should ask your sister or brother. I don't think I'm allowed to tell you those kind of things." I said.

Applebloom then nodded in agreement.

Just then, the bell rang and it was time for me and the kids to go home. "Alright, kids. As always, enjoy the rest of your day and remember to gather all your things for the camping trip tomorrow!" I announced.

All the kids then jumped off their stools before they made their way over to the exit, with me following them.

**Later: Ponyville Streets**

After saying goodbye to the kids and locking up the school, I was carrying Applebloom back to Sweet Apple Arches. These days, she liked it when I did.

It was peaceful in the streets, there weren't many ponies walking around as usual. It was nice to have a quiet day for a change.

Just then, I heard Applebloom yawn from my back. A smile came on my face as I felt her lie her head down on my mane. "Tired, Applebloom?" I asked.

Applebloom raised her head up off my mane and yawned again. "Yeah, today kinda wore me out." She said with a sleepy look in her eyes.

I knew how she felt, school use to tire me out all the time back in England. I turned my head around to face her and gave her a sweet smile. "Well, you take a short nap! I'll handle getting you home."

Applebloom smiled warmly at me. "Thanks, Matt." she said before she laid her head back down on my mane and closed her eyes.

As she fell asleep, I continued walking to Sweet Apple Arches.

**Sweet Apple Arches**

Later that evening, I arrived at Sweet Apple Arches and Applebloom was fast asleep on my back.

I walked up to the front door of the Apple Family's house and knocked on the door with my hoof.

After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal Applejack. Once she saw it was me, she smiled. "Well howdy there, Matt. bringin' back Applebloom as usual?" She asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, she fell asleep on the way here." I said before I turned my body around so she could see Applebloom sleeping on my back.

Applejack smiled sweetly at her sleeping sister. "Aww…ain't that just the cutest thing?" she said before she walked up to her.

Applejack then gently poked Applebloom with her hoof. "Applebloom…wake up." she said quietly.

Applebloom then slowly blinked her eyes open before she yawned. She then noticed Applejack before she turned her head to face me. "Matt?...are we here already?...that was fast."

I smiled at her. "You fell asleep, maybe you should take a nap." I suggested.

Applebloom slowly nodded before she slipped off my back and passed Applejack to go inside her house. "Remember to get your things ready for tomorrow!" I called.

Applebloom looked back at me as she approached the first step of the stairs. "I will, thanks for bringin' me home again, Matt." she said with a kind smile before she made her way up the stairs.

Once she was upstairs, Applejack gave me a thankful smile. "Thanks for that, Matt. I don't know why, but she likes it when you walk her home these days."

I shrugged. "I don't get it either, but I like doing it. She's been like this ever since my first day, it might have something to do with me helping her when she hurt her knee."

"I figured as much. Matt, I want ya to do somethin' for me when ya'all on this campin' trip." Applejack said seriously.

"Ok, what is it?" I asked curiously.

"I want ya to take good care of my sister and her friends! Campin' can have its dangerous moments; I'm depending on ya to protect my sister." Applejack said in a firm voice.

I gave Applejack a serious look. "I'll protect her like she was my own daughter." I said.

"Thanks, Matt. I'll make sure she has all her things ready for tomorrow." Applejack said calmly with a smile.

I smiled back. "Ok, see ya tomorrow, Applejack." I said before I turned around and started making my way towards the farms exit.

"See ya, Matt." I headed Applejack call from behind me as I kept walking.

I then walked out of the farm before I flapped my wings and took off into the sky; I flew back to the library to spend the rest of the day with Twilight.

**The next day: Schoolhouse**

Luckily, it was a warm sunny day for our trip. I was standing in the playground with all the kids as we waited for the right time to go.

All the kids had saddle-bags and camping-bags on their backs as they talked amongst each other. I also had my saddle-bag and I had a camping-bag.

It was nearly time to go. Just then, I felt a small hoof tap my left front leg. I turned my head to see Pipsqueak standing beside me. "Err, Mr Matthew, can I ask you something?" he asked politely.

I smiled down at him. "Sure, what is it, Pip?"

He rubbed his hoof against the ground with an unsure look on his face. "Are you sure a camping trip is safe? What if one of us gets lost in the woods, or something?" he asked with slight worry.

I gave him a warm smile as I placed my hoof on his shoulder. "Don't worry, Pip! I'll look after all of you." I said calmly.

"…Ok, Mr Matthew. I trust you." Pip said with a small smile.

"Thanks, Pip. Now go and join your friends! It's almost time to go." I said before Pip walked away to join up with a small group of other kids.

After a few minutes, it was finally time to go to the train station. "Alright, everypony. It's time to go, everyone form a group and stay close to me." I called.

With that, all the kids gathered up around me. They all looked excited, the only ones who weren't showing much excitement were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, I wasn't very surprised.

Once I saw that everyone was together, I knew we were finally ready. "Alright, let's get going." I said cheerfully.

"YAAAAY." Most of the kids cheered as we began to walk out of the school grounds.

Once we were out of the school grounds, we headed into town to go to the train station.

**A few minutes later: Ponyville Train station**

After a short walk, we all reached the train station. I was glad that the kids behaved themselves on the way here, they always were good.

"This is gonna be awesome, I've been waiting for this day for a long time." Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, I'm so excited. What're you gonna do there, Scootaloo?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I've brought my scuba-diving suit so I can go diving in the lake, who knows what could be at the bottom." Scootaloo said.

"I'm gonna see what kind of things I can find in the woods, there's so many things you can find in there." Sweetie Belle said.

"Well, I can't wait for it to get dark. Things always get better at night, like when we tell the ghost stories during the camp fire." Applebloom said.

"G-Ghost stories?...I don't know, I kinda get scared when someone tells a ghost story." Sweetie Belle said in a slightly frightened voice.

"Oh come on, Sweetie Belle! They're just stories, they're not real." Scootaloo stated with her arm around Sweetie Belle's shoulders.

Applebloom walked up to them with a comforting smile. "Yeah, there ain't nothin' to be afraid of." She stated.

"That's what you think, but all forests have some sort of danger." A voice said coldly.

The girls looked in the direction the voice came from to see Diamond Tiara with a mean smirk on her face.

"What are you talking about, Diamond Tiara?" Scootaloo asked with a glare.

Diamond Tiara walked up to them. "Look at you three! You think camping is fun? HA, more like a disaster waiting to happen. Don't you know that every year many ponies go missing during camping trips?"

"T-That's not true, you're makin' that up." Applebloom said.

Diamond Tiara turned her head to face her. "No, I'm not. And you don't even want to know about the wild-life."

"W-What?" Sweetie Belle asked with slight fear.

Diamond Tiara grew a small devious grin. "Oh, nothing much. Just bears, Timber-wolves, bees, all sorts of creatures. And do you know the one thing they like to eat more than anything?"

The girls silently shook their heads with their eyes wide open.

Diamond Tiara's grin grew. "They like to eat…little camping fillies."

Suddenly, Silver Spoon jumped up behind the girls. "BOO!" she yelled; causing the girls to scream loudly.

I heard the scream and quickly looked over to see what was happening, I walked over to them. "What's going on over here?" I asked.

Applebloom and Scootaloo looked frightened, but Sweetie Belle was quivering as if she's seen a ghost.

"Diamond Tiara was sayin' the animals in the forest were gonna eat us, then Silver Spoon jumped out of nowhere and scared the day-lights out of us." Applebloom explained.

After hearing this, I looked down at Diamond Tiara with a firm look. "…What? We were just playing." Diamond Tiara stated.

"Really? Sounds like you were trying to scare them. I'll let you off this time, but if you or Silver Spoon so much as jump out of a bush to scare anyone, you'll both get detention for a week. Am I clear?" I said in a serious voice.

Diamond Tiara then looked down at the ground in annoyance before she let out a loud sigh. "Yes, Mr Matthew." She groaned.

"Good, now both of you go re-join with the group and stay where I can see you!" I said before Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked away to do as I said.

Once they were taken care of, I walked over to the girls. "Hey, you three alright?" I asked with concern.

Sweetie Belle gave me an unsure look. "Matt, I don't know if I can do this anymore. What if something bad _does_ happen?"

I gave her a confident look. "Don't worry! I'll look after you, I'll look after all of you. Just try to have a good time! Alright?" I said in a calming voice.

The girls then looked at each other before they looked back at me, they then nodded. I was glad they chose to try.

I smiled down at them. "Ok, now let's get back to the group! The train will be here any minute."

With that, I the girls walked passed me to re-join the group with me following behind. However, after seeing the worry in Sweetie Belle's eyes, I knew for curtain that I would have to do more than my best to make sure that nothing happens to any of them in any way.

After a few minutes, the Friendship Express finally arrived at the station. "Ok, kids. Let's go!" I said before they cheered in excitement.

We all got in one of the train cars and we all took our seats. I sat by the window because I get a bit travel-sick sometimes; Pip was sitting next to me.

Of cause, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were sitting together. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were sitting as far back away from everyone as possible. They all started talking amongst each other as we waited for the train to start moving.

Just then, I felt Pip tap my hip and I turned my head to look down at him. "Mr Matthew, where are we going again?" he asked.

"We're going to the _Spring Forest_; it's like a park for ponies to camp in. There should be some park rangers waiting for us at the station there." I explained.

"Do you think we'll see some wild-life there?" Pip asked curiously.

I shrugged. "Probably, it _is_ a forest after all." I said.

"I hope there aren't any dangerous animals there." Pip said.

I gave him a trustful smile. "I wouldn't worry about that, Pip. I'm sure most of the animals there are friendly. If there are dangerous ones, they won't bother us if we leave them alone."

Pip smiled as he nodded. "Ok, Mr Matthew. So when does the train leave?" he asked.

"It should be any time now, I'll check my watch." I said before I looked down at my arm.

Pip gave me a confused look. "Errr…you're not wearing a watch, Mr Matthew." He said.

He was right, I wasn't wearing a watch, I was just looking down at the fair on my arm. "…Oh yeah." I said with a sheepish smile before I put my arm down.

Just then, I felt the train start to vibrate beneath me before it slowly started to move. All the kids had excited smiles as they sat in their seats.

I heard the whistle from the engine car as we began to pick up speed. In a matter of seconds, we were going full speed and we were on our way to the camp.

**Meanwhile: Ponyville Streets**

Twilight was walking through the streets with Jeff on her back. They were heading back to the library after visited Cheerilee in her home to check on her.

"I'm glad that Cheerilee's getting better, it won't be long before she can teach again." Twilight said with a pleased smile.

"Yeah, she's doin' good…despite from the fact that she's in a wheelchair." Jeff said.

Twilight turned her head around to face Jeff with a firm look. "I thought I told you not to stare." She said.

"I wasn't staring…it was just easily noticeable, that's all." Jeff stated with his wings crossed

Twilight then rolled her eyes before she turned her attention back on where she was walking.

Suddenly, something fell out of the sky and crash landed right in front of Twilight; making her let out a small yelled as she flinched backwards.

After a second, Twilight saw that it was Derpy who crashed in front of her. She had her mail-bag around her. "Derpy, are you ok?" Twilight asked.

Derpy then got up from the ground and shook the dust off her body; she then smiled with her eyes still crossed. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just making my mail deliveries, like usual."

"Oh really? That's nice. How've your deliveries been today?" Twilight asked.

"Fine, just fine." Derpy answered as she nodded.

"That's great, Derpy. Well, I'd better get going. I have a lot of work to do back at the library." Twilight said before she walked passed Derpy; who just stood there with her eyes crossed.

As Twilight walked away from her, she heard Derpy call behind her. "Wait!" she yelled.

Twilight and Jeff turned their heads around to face Derpy as she walked up to them. Derpy then shoved her head into her mail-bag and pulled out a letter in her mouth.

Twilight looked at it in wonder. "What's that for?" she asked as her horn glowed and the letter floated out of Derpy's mouth and hovered in front of her face.

"It's a letter for you. I was gonna deliver it to you place, but I think it's better if I give it to you now while you're here." Derpy said.

Twilight gave Derpy a smile. "Oh…thanks, Derpy."

Derpy saluted to Twilight with a smile. "No problem. Well, I'd better get back to work. Say hi to Matt for me, will ya?"

Twilight nodded. "I will. And again, thanks."

"Ok, see ya." Derpy said before she turned around and walked away from Twilight.

Once she was gone, Twilight returned her attention to the letter in front of her. Jeff climbed onto of her head and looked down at it. "What's it say?" he asked.

Twilight then used her magic to open the envelope and the letter lifted out of it. Twilight then started to read it.

"_Dear: Twilight and Matthew._

_Come to Sugar Cube Corner tonight at eight o'clock! We have a special surprise for you. You may bring Jeff and Peewee if you wish, Spike will already be there._

_P.S. Pinkie says hi._

_Signed: Rarity."_

Jeff had a wondering look on his face."I wonder what the surprise is."

Twilight looked up at him. "I don't know, but knowing my friends, it'll be something worth it." She said.

"But the letter says they want you _and_ Matt there, he's not here until tomorrow." Jeff stated.

"Well, we'll just have to explain that to them." Twilight said as she hovered the letter up to Jeff and he held on to it. He then walked down off her head and back onto her back.

Twilight then turned around and began to walk back to the library again. "Now, I really need to get home. Those reports aren't gonna do themselves."

"If you use your magic, they will." Jeff said before he let out a small chuckle.

Twilight just rolled her eyes again. "How Matt puts up with you, I'll never know."

Jeff smirked. "You get used to it, doll-face."

Twilight turned her head to face Jeff with her eyes narrowed. "Don't call me doll-face!"

"You got it, sweet-cheeks." Jeff said with an even bigger smirk.

Twilight let out a loud groan as she turned her head back around. As she kept walking, something suddenly caught Jeff's eye up ahead.

"Dove, dove, total dove." He said as he pointed forward.

Twilight looked at what he was pointing at to see a female white dove flying towards them.

Jeff lied his back down against the back of Twilight's neck with his wings behind his head to make him look cool.

"So yeah, I totally saved those baby chicks from that vulture. I sent him cryin' home to his momma." Jeff said out loud; hoping the dove heard him.

However, the dove took no notice and flew straight passed them. Jeff leaned back up and let out a small sigh. "Well, that was a swing-and-a-miss." He said.

Twilight shook her head with an amused smile before she kept walking back to the library.

**Later that day: Spring Forest station**

After a long train ride, the Friendship Express finally arrived at the station in front of the Spring Forest.

Once the train came to a complete stop, we all got off the train. I turned around to face all the kids. "Alright, kids. Everyone stay together so I don't lose any of you!" I said.

Once the kids did as I said, I looked around the station platform to see an Earth pony wearing a red park ranger uniform. "Huh, that must be the guy." I thought.

I then walked over to him with all the kids following behind. Once we reached him, he smiled at us. "You must be the campers from Ponyville that I was told about, welcome to the Spring Forest, one of the most peaceful camping grounds in all of Equestria."

I smiled at him. "Thanks, so where should we set up our tents?" I asked.

The park ranger then pointed into the forest. "Just follow the path up the hill! There'll be a large open space in the middle of the forest with a blue flag stuck in the ground, that'll be your camping sight." He explained.

I nodded. "Easy enough, thanks." I said before I turned my head around to face the kids. "Alright, kids. I know where we're going, follow me!" I said.

I then began to walk towards the trees with the kids following behind, the park ranger waved to us as we left the station.

It wasn't long before we were walking through the forest. It wasn't creepy like the Ever Free Forest, so none of the kids were frightened.

"Err…Mr Matthew, are you sure you know where we're going?" Twist asked.

I turned my head around to look down at her. "Pretty sure, that guy said to follow the path until we reached a big open space. It shouldn't be too hard to find, just keep your eyes open for a blue flag in the ground!" I said as I looked around.

After what seemed like an hour of walking, we finally made it to the end of the path. There, we found our camp sight.

It was a large open area with no trees or bushes in it, the only trees that were seen were the ones surrounding the area. There was more than enough room to set all our tents up, the only thing inside the area was a pile of burnt logs covered in soot and ash; apparently someone used this area before us.

I then noticed the blue flag on a small pole stuck up in the middle of the burnt logs. I walked over to it and pulled it out the ground before I placed it on the ground. I then turned around to face the kids.

"Ok, everypony get out your tents and set them up! Don't set them up near the fire, set them up near the trees! And if anypony wants me to help them with their tent, just ask." I announced.

With that, we all took our camping-bags off our backs and pulled out our tents. Some of the kids like Pip and Scootaloo asked me to help them at some point, which I did.

When we were done, I had my tent up. It was a large green tent big enough for two.

I then looked around to see how the kids were getting on, was interested in how everyone's tents looked different.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were sharing a large dark blue tent with their Cutie Mark Crusaders symbol on the front.

Twist's tent had red and white stripes going across it.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were also sharing a pink tent which looked like a small castle.

And Snips & Snails also shared a tent, although it looked as though they had made it themselves, it was covered in stitches and different coloured fabric.

Once they were done, the kids wondered around the camp site to admire their surroundings. They looked excited and ready to start.

I then stepped forward. "Alright, kids. We're only here for one day, so what do you want to do first?" I asked out loud.

At that moment, Applebloom came up to me. "Oh, oh, let's go explore in the woods!" she suggested.

Suddenly, Sweetie Belle came up beside her. "No, let's go animal watching!"

And finally, Scootaloo came up beside her. "No way, let's go fishing!"

I then rubbed my chin as I thought about what to do, I then got an idea. "How about we go with Scootaloo's idea and go fishing?" I said hoping they'd agree.

The girls then looked at each other before they nodded and looked back up at me. "Ok, that'll be fun too." Applebloom said.

I smiled in delight before I looked out to the other kids around the camp. "Attention, kids! Me and the girls are gonna go fishing, anyone who's interested is welcome to come. If not, you're allowed to stay behind, but stay in the camp site at all times! Ok?" I announced.

Some of the kids (including Snips, Snails, Pip and Twist) smiled as they came over to join our group. Some of the kids like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon just stayed sat on a small log.

"Eww, the last thing I'm gonna do is go out into the disgusting forest. And we're certainly not gonna go near some icky lake with a bunch of smelly fish swimming in it." Diamond Tiara said out loud.

"Yeah, I'm staying here with her." Silver Spoon stated as she and Diamond Tiara crossed their arms.

I let out a silent sigh. "Fine, suit yourself! But stay in the camp like I said!" I said in a serious voice.

"Don't worry! We're not going anywhere." Diamond Tiara said.

She and Silver Spoon then reached into their saddle-bags which were lying by the log they were sitting on and they each pulled out a magazine before they started reading them.

Once I saw that all the kids who were staying behind were settled, I looked down at the small group in front of me. "Well, it looks like we're all ready. Now everypony stay close to me and don't go wondering off!" I said.

The kids then nodded to tell me they understood. I then walked over to my tent before I went inside, I was thinking about doing a bit of fishing while I was here, so I brought my own fishing-pole in my bag.

It was a put-together pole, meaning it could fold up so I could carry it around without poking anyone. It was in a small black bag with straps so I could carry it on my back.

After I found it, I came out of the tent with the black bag on my back. "Alright, let's go!" I said before we all started walking towards a path in the woods.

There was a wooden sign beside the path with an arrow on it with the word 'Lake' painted next to it, We all began to follow the path to find the lake.

**Later: The lake**

We had managed to find the lake easily; I took the black bag off my bag and got out my folded-up fishing-pole.

I spent a few minutes putting it together because it was difficult to do that with no fingers. But finally, I got it together and my fishing-pole was ready.

I stood next to the lake where I could see the water perfectly before I turned around to face the few kids. "Ok, so has anyone ever gone fishing before?" I asked.

Nopony raised their hoof before Applebloom raised hers, I smiled down at her. "Oh good, so do you know what we have to do next?"

Applebloom gave me a confused look. "Why are ya askin' me? Have you ever gone fishin' before?" she asked.

I nodded. "I have, I'm just asking _you_." I explained.

"Oh…well, first we need to put bait on the hook." Applebloom said as she pointed at the hook dangling on the fishing line.

I nodded. "Very good, Applebloom. So who can tell me what we can use as bait?" I asked.

At that moment, Scootaloo came up to me. "Oh, I've got something that'll work." She said with one of her hooves behind her back, she was holding something.

She moved her hoof around from her back to show me a shiny red apple. I looked at it in confusion. "Err…that's an apple. Fish don't eat apples, they eat things like worms."

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, I know. There's a worm in the apple." She said; causing some of the kids to laugh slightly.

I couldn't help but let out a small chuckle. "Haha, very funny, Scootaloo. But seriously, I don't think it's gonna work like that."

Scootaloo smirked up at me. "Bet you it will."

I smirked back. "You're on. If it works, you get to reel in the fish." I said as I placed the fishing-pole down in front of her.

Scootaloo then picked the hook up with her hoof before she attached the apple onto it, she then picked the pole up in her hooves before she held the pole back and swung it forward; casting the apple into the water.

While Scootaloo focused all her concentration on the bobber floating on the water-surface, Applebloom turned her head to face her. "I think I have to agree with Matt, I've never heard of a fish that goes for an apple with a worm in it." she said in an unsure voice.

After a few short minutes, nothing happened. I was about to tell Scootaloo to pull the line back before the bobber started to bob. Suddenly, the bobber went under the water and the fishing-pole bent.

"WHOW." Scootaloo yelled as she used all her strength to hold the pole back.

I watched her in full surprise by the fact that a fish actually took the apple bait. "…Well, how 'bout that. It worked." I said.

As the fishing line pulled harder, so did Scootaloo. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle had to grab hold of her to keep her from being pulled into the water.

I then walked up beside the struggling fillies. "Need some help?" I asked.

"…Yeah…h-hurry! I don't know if I can hold on any longer." Scootaloo said as she pulled back on the pole with all her might.

I nodded before I held on to the pole handle with Scootaloo and started to pull back with her, this fish was really putting up a fight. Suddenly, Scootaloo's hooves gave in and they slipped off the pole; now I was the only one pulling back on the pole.

As I tried to pull back, I was slowly being pulled towards the water. I tried to take a few steps back, but the soil beneath my hooves was slightly wet and slippery from being near the water. It wasn't long before I slipped and fell straight into the water with a big splash.

I swam back up and spat out the water that was in my mouth with disgust, luckily the water wasn't so deep. I heard the kids laugh loudly as I kept myself floating in the water. "Not funny, guys." I said.

"Hahaha, it's pretty funny from here, hahaha." Snips laughed.

I blushed brightly as I felt embarrassment take over. But after thinking about how silly I must look, I started to laugh along with them. Now we were all sharing loud laughter.

But as I tried to swim back to land, I felt something around my leg. I dunked my head under the water to see the fishing line tied around my leg, the line was starting to straighten as if it was being pulled by something. I knew exactly what was coming next.

I brought my head back up from the water with my eyes wide open. "…Oh crap." I said under my breath.

Suddenly, the line straightened completely and I yelled loudly as I was pulled along the water-surface. The kids watched me with wide eyes as I was pulled away from them.

I was in this mess for a short time; my yells were sometimes muffled by the water splashing hard in my face. I was starting to wonder if I'd ever stop.

Just then, I saw something up ahead. As I was pulled closer to it, I saw that it was a long tree branch sticking out from a tree on the land. I saw this as my one chance to stop this joy-ride.

Once I was close enough to it, I grabbed onto the branch and wrapped my arms around it to hold on better. However, the fish at the other end of the line continued to swim. My leg was forced to straighten and the branch I was held onto started to bend.

I held on as hard as I could and tried to pull my leg back, but this fish was determined to keep going. I didn't know what would happen; I figured the branch would snap at any moment now.

Then something unexpected happened, the branch was stronger than I thought it was. It flung me out of the water and I flew back to the land before I crash-landed on the ground. The fish must've been overpowered because it landed in front of me and flapped around.

I looked at it to see it was a big grey fish. "Ha, got'cha." I said with a smirk.

At that moment, the kids galloped out from the bushes and looked at me with concerned faces. "Mr Matthew, are you ok?" Pip asked.

I weakly got up off the ground and groaned as I rubbed my head with my hoof. "I think that's enough fishing for one day." I said before I fell back down to the ground.

**Meanwhile: Sugar Cube Corner**

It was 8:00 and Celestia's sun was starting to lower.

Twilight walked up in front of Sugar Cube Corner with Jeff and Peewee on her back. "What do you think they wanted us here for?" Peewee asked.

Twilight shrugged. "No idea, the letter just said to come here at eight o'clock."

"Well, let's go inside and see what all the secrecy's about!" Jeff said.

Twilight then walked up to the front door before she pushed on it with her hoof, the door slowly opened for her to see that all the lights were off, the room was completely dark.

Twilight walked inside and looked around in the darkness before the light's shot on and the rest of the main 6 and Spike jumped out. "SURPRISE." They yelled.

Twilight was surprised, she looked around the room to see it was decorated with white balloons and multi-coloured confetti. She had no idea what this was for. "What's all this for?" she asked.

Pinkie Pie then shot up beside her and wrapped her arm around her. "You big silly, this is your celebration party."

"My what?" Twilight asked in confusion.

"Darling, don't you remember? We said we'd throw you a party to celebrate your engagement to Matthew." Rarity explained with a warm smile.

Twilight then remembered what she was talking about. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. That was weeks ago, I thought you decided not to throw it."

Pinkie Pie gasped loudly. "Decided not to throw it? Are you crazy? I'd never miss the opportunity to throw a party, especially when it's one for you and Mattie."

Pinkie Pie then looked behind Twilight before a wondering look came on her face. "Hey, where is Mattie anyway? OH, is he playing hide-and-seek? I'll seek." She yelled in excitement.

Pinkie Pie then started looking around the room. She looked under the couch, she looked in a jar, and she even looked under Jeff's tail feathers.

"HEY, what're ya doin'?" Jeff yelled was he covered his rear with his wings.

"I was looking under your tail for Mattie." Pinkie explained indecently.

"Trust me! I'd know if he was under there." Jeff stated in an irritated tone.

Twilight then turned her head to face Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, Matt's not here. He's taken the kids at the school on a camping trip; he won't be back until tomorrow."

"But this party was for you _and_ Matt, how is it supposed to be a party for both of you if he's not here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Twilight turned her head to face her. "Don't worry, Rainbow! We can just throw another party for him when he gets back." She said.

Pinkie Pie then grew a large excited smile. "You mean I get to throw the same party _twice_? (Excited squeal) I better reload my party cannon." She said before she shot off into the next room. After a second, she shot back in.

"So Twi, how's Matt been anyway? Has he had any problems with guilt over Thorn's death or somethin'?" Applejack asked.

Twilight shook her head. "No, no problems what-so-ever." She said as she shifted her eyes left and right.

Pinkie Pie then gave her a suspicious look. "She's lying."

Fluttershy then looked at her with a raised eye brow. "How do you know?"

"I can tell in the sound of her voice. Plus, you only shift your eyes around when you're trying to hide something." Pinkie Pie said.

Fluttershy then walked up beside Twilight. "Twilight, is there something wrong? Do you want to tell us?" she said in her gentle voice.

"There's nothing wrong." Twilight protested.

"Twilight!" Applejack said in a firm voice.

Twilight looked around to see the wonder and concern on their faces. "Well…Matt's not been sleeping well lately. He keeps tossing and turning in his sleep, she mumbles things that I can't understand. Sometimes, I get so worried that I have to wake him up to get him to calm down."

"It sounds like he's having rather nasty nightmares." Rarity said.

"I don't think it's anything serious, but it's happened three nights in a row. What should I do?" Twilight asked.

"Nightmares come and go, Twilight. Trust me! He'll be back to his old goofy self in no-time." Rainbow Dash said with confidence.

"I hope you're right, Rainbow." Twilight said still feeling worried.

"Well, enough with all this talk about Thorn and nightmares! Let's get this here party started!" Applejack said as she stood on her hind-legs and kicked her front-legs in the air cheerfully.

Pinkie then ran over to the gramophone before she threw a record disc in it and music started playing. With that, Twilight and the others started dancing to the music as their party began.

Later that day, Twilight and the others were taking a break by sitting on the floor and talking. "This was the best party ever." Pinkie Pie said.

"That's what you said about the last party you threw, and the one before that, and the one before that, and so on." Spike stated.

"To me, every party is the best." Pinkie Pie said with a large smile.

After a moment, Twilight spoke. "So, do any of you think marriage will be hard? I mean, I don't know much about a married life."

"Neither do we, Twilight. We're not exactly the right ponies to ask that question to." Rarity stated.

Just then, Mr and Mrs Cake came into the room with a tray of drinks in Mrs Cake's mouth. "Would any of you like some refreshment?" Mr Cake asked.

Twilight and the others all nodded to them before Mrs Cake placed the tray down on a small table in front of them. They each took a cup.

Twilight used her magic to hold her cup before she looked over to Mr and Mrs Cake. "Emm…can I ask you two a personal question?" she asked politely.

Mr Cake turned his head to face her. "Of cause you can, Twilight. What is it?" he asked as Mrs Cake became curious in what she wanted to say.

"What's it like to be married? I mean, is it hard?" Twilight asked.

Mrs Cake stepped forward. "Well…not always. True, there are some hard times in a married life, but they're worth it if you're with the one you love."

"She's right, Twilight. I know marriage is a big step in your life, but if it means being with the one you love forever, it's a step defiantly worth taking." Mr Cake said kindly.

"Don't worry, dearie! I know how you feel. Before I married Mr Cake, I also wondered if a married life would be hard. And you know what; it isn't as hard as I thought. What I said was right; there will be times where things seem hard. But in the end, everything works out. And I'm sure you and Matthew will have a great life together." Mrs Cake said.

Twilight gave them both a thankful smile. "Thank you, both of you. I just needed to know that."

"Any time, Twilight." Mr Cake said before he and Mrs Cake went back into the kitchen.

After they left, Rarity looked over to Twilight. "So Twilight, what would you like your dress to be like? Something ravishing? Something original?"

Twilight gave her a confused look. "What're you talking about, Rarity?"

"Twilight, you don't really expect me to sit by and not do anything while you prepare for your wedding, do you? You simply must let me design your gown for you." Rarity said.

Twilight gave her a sweet smile. "Aww, Rarity. I appreciate the offer, but I don't want to put a burden on you."

Rarity put her hoof up. "Nonsense, it won't be a burden, I'm more than happy to make your dress. I mean really, when'll be the next time I get the chance to make a wedding dress for one of my friends?"

Twilight didn't have to think long before she made her decision. "Alright Rarity, you can make my dress. Knowing your skills, I bet it'll be beautiful." She said with a smile; causing Rarity to smile with excitement.

"Well, that's my dress taken care of. Now I just need to find someone to make all the food." Twilight said out-loud.

"Well shucks, Twilight. If ya'all need someone to make the food, why not ask me? Me and my family make tons of apple treats all the time." Applejack said.

Twilight looked over to her. "But Applejack, that'll mean you'll have to cook lots of food. I don't want you to work that hard for me."

Applejack waved her hoof. "It's fine with me, I like a good challenge." She stated.

"Oh, and I can ask my bird friends to sing the music. I'm sure they'll be more than happy to do it." Fluttershy said with a small smile.

Just then, Pinkie Pie appeared beside her. "And don't forget the party after the wedding! I'll throw you and Mattie the best reception ever." She said as she jumped up and down on the spot.

"Are you all sure you want to do this for us?" Twilight asked.

Everyone then nodded. "Trust us, Twilight! We're all wantin' to do it, we're your friends and we want ya to have the perfect weddin'. Plus, we're doin' it for nothin', those fancy weddin' organizers would want ya'all to pay for it." Applejack said with a smirk.

Twilight smiled warmly at her friends. "Thank you, thank you all so much. I don't know how I can repay you."

"You don't have to do anything, sweetie. Just focus on the planning, and let us do the rest!" Rarity said while smiling warmly back at her.

With that settled, they all went back to partying. "Who's ready to play pin-the-tail-on-the-pony?" Pinkie Pie yelled with excitement before everyone else raised their hooves.

They all then got up and walked towards the wall with a large picture of a pony attached to it with a small fury purple tail pinned to the side of the picture.

**That night: Camp Spring camp site**

After a long day of different camping activities, we were all sitting around the camp fire enjoying the warmth and the beautiful starry night sky above us.

We'd done a lot of things today, the kids convinced me to throw the big fish back in the water, which I did.

We went to see what kind of animals there were, we saw many different types. Like Racoons, squirrels, and different birds.

And finally, we all had a swim in a near-by swimming hole. We really enjoyed that, even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

Good thing there wasn't a breeze in the wind, we were still wet. We were all wearing towels while sitting in front of the fire. Scootaloo had brought some marshmallows and we were roasting them over the fire with clean sticks.

"Roasting marshmallows remind me of going camping with my Mom and Dad." Sweetie Belle said as she used her stick to hold her marshmallow above the flames.

"Did you ever go camping with your family, Mr Matthew?" Pip asked.

I looked down at him. "I never went camping back where I'm from, but I did use to roast marshmallows over a candle. Me and my sister use to do it all the time when we were young." I said.

Applebloom looked up at me with surprise. "I never knew ya had a sister, what's her name?"

I looked over to her. "Her name was Jess, she was my older sister."

"So, where is she now?" Sweetie Belle asked; causing all the other kids to look at me with interest.

"She's…back home, very far away." I said with slight sadness.

"Do ya miss her?" Applebloom asked curiously.

I looked down at her. "Yeah, I miss my family. But I'd miss Twilight more if I left her, I love her so much. If I went back, I'd probably go into a deep depression. True, I miss my family and I'd like to see them again, but I want to stay here with Twilight and my friends."

"Did you fight bad guys back there too?" Snips asked with a large smile.

"Do video games count?" I asked.

Snips narrowed his eyes. "No."

"Then, no, I didn't. But I wanted to; I wanted to become a policeman." I said.

Sweetie Belle gave me a confused look. "What's a policeman?" she asked.

"Oh, it's like a guard…only with a uniform instead of armour. They don't have spears either, but they have other things to defend themselves with." I explained.

"If they don't have armour, what's to stop them from getting hurt?" Scootaloo asked.

"Errr…you know what, forget I said anything! Let's just get back to roasting these marshmallows!" I said before I looked back at my marshmallow in the fire.

I then lifted my stick up and the marshmallow came out of the fire to reveal it had caught fire; I went wide-eyes before I shook the stick up and down to put it out. Once it was out, the marshmallow was completely burnt. "Well, that didn't go well. Ahh, don't like these things anyway." I said.

Snails then put his hoof up. "Oh, oh, can I have it? please." He quickly asked.

I gave him a strange look before I passed my stick over to him. "Errr…sure." I said.

Snails then took the stick and ate the burnt marshmallow with delight.

"Ooookkkk…so, anyone got any ghost stories?" I asked hoping someone did.

With that, Scootaloo quickly stuck her hoof up. "I've got one, I've got one." She said before she took out a flashlight and turned it on, she shun it up to her face to make her look more scary.

"_This is the tale of a pony called Ripper; he was picked on by everypony in town. But after he had a tragic accident, the ones who picked on him soon wished they didn't_." Scootaloo started with a spooky voice.

After a while, Scootaloo was coming to the end of her story. To me, it wasn't that scary. But to some of the other kids, it was.

"_And as she sat in the darkness, the only sound she could hear was her own breathing. Just then, she heard a faint creaking noise. She turned around slowly…and just behind her…was RIPPER._" Scootaloo yelled; causing some of the kids to scream loudly.

Scootaloo burst out laughing; she had to drop the flashlight to hold onto her stomach. "HAHAHA, you should totally see your faces! Hahaha." She laughed.

It didn't take long for the scared kids to finally calm down; they were all taking deep breaths. "Nice story, Scootaloo. That was a scary one." Sweetie Belle said.

"Thanks, I always try to keep things interesting." Scootaloo stated.

Applebloom then looked up at me. "You got any, Matt?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No…well, I could have one, but I'd be way to scary and gruesome for you." I said.

"Oh, come on, Matt! We can take it." Scootaloo said in a brave voice.

I looked over to her. "Trust me! The stories I know are very mature. I do know a scary camp story; it involves an undead guy with a machete and a hockey-mask. But like I said, it's too scary for you."

"Ok then, so has anyone else got one?" Scootaloo asked to the others.

At that moment, Diamond Tiara stuck her hoof up. "Oh, I have one. And I know it'll scare all of you because…it's a true story." She said with a menacing smile; causing some of the kids to grew frightened looks.

Diamond Tiara then took the flashlight and shines it under her face.

"_A long time ago, a mean pony who was the cause of hundreds of disappearances throughout Equestria, was sent to a maximum prison which was rumoured to be inescapable. But one dark night, he managed to escape and disappeared into the nearest forest. _

_Though the prison guards tried to hunt him down, they couldn't find him, some of the guards didn't even report back to the prison._

_After months of searching, they finally gave up and accepted that the pony would be long-gone…but they were wrong._

_Over the years, many campers went into that forest, and only a few have come out. And ponies still go in that forest today, and they don't all come out._

_And do you know what the name of that forest was?...it was called…THE SPRING FORSET."_

Once they heard the name of the same forest we were in, the frightened kids all screamed their heads off. Snips was so scared that he fainted off the log he was sitting on. Diamond Tiara just laughed at them. "You ponies are _way_ too easy to scare."

I just shook my head in silence. "With all these scary stories, these kids are never gonna sleep tonight." I thought.

After a few minutes, everyone calmed down. "Ok, I think I've heard enough scary stories for one night. Can we do something else, please?" Sweetie Belle begged.

I gave her a concerted look; I then gently wrapped my arm around her. "Hey, hey, calm down! It was just a story, she only said it was real to scare you." I said softly.

Sweetie Belle gave me a warm smile. Suddenly, Applebloom screamed. I quickly looked over to her. "What is it?" I asked.

"It's Silver Spoon, she's gone." Applebloom yelled as she pointed over to the empty space next to Diamond Tiara.

Once I saw this, I became worried that something had happened to her. "Where'd she go?" I asked with worry.

"It's the kidnapper pony, he's real, he's gonna get us all." Twist yelled in fright.

I looked around at the kids to see that they were all quivering with fright, Sweetie Belle held me as tight as she could around my waist for protection. "Alright, everypony calm down! I'm sure there's a reason why she's not here."

"Like what? She decided to take a walk in the dark woods? She'd never go in there. At least, not without me." Diamond Tiara said.

I looked over to her. "Look, there're many reasons to why she might not be here. We just need to wait here, and if she doesn't show up soon, we'll report it in to the ranger." I said.

With that, the kids started to calm down. The place was silent for a moment before. "BOO." A female voice yelled behind me and the girls; causing them to scream.

I turned around quickly to see Silver Spoon laughing before she walked around the camp to join up with Diamond Tiara, who was also laughing. "Nice one, Silver Spoon. That work just how we wanted it to." She said.

"Wait! You mean to tell me you set that whole thing up just to scare us?" I asked slightly angry.

The two fillies then nodded. "Yeah, and you all fell for it. Hahaha." Silver Spoon laughed.

At that moment, I became angry and I stood up off the log. "That's it, I told you two that if you scared anyone like that on this trip, you'd both get detention. So now, I'm givin' it to you. Detention for a week, both of you!"

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked at me with open mouths. "What? That's not fair, we didn't do anything bad." Diamond Tiara argued.

"Wanna make it two weeks?" I said with a firm look.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon then went silent as they looked down at the ground, I could hear faint groans from the angered fillies. "No." they answered.

"Good, now you two get in your tent! I think it's time to sleep anyway." I said as I pointed my hoof to their tent.

I watched as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked towards their tent. "You had me dead worried, Silver Spoon. I thought something happened to you. I'm not happy about what you did." I said to them.

Once they entered their tents, I looked at the other kids. "Sorry, kids. It's time for bed now, I hope you all enjoyed today, and goodnight."

As I made my way towards my tent, all the kids did the same. Snips was still passed-out, so Snails had to drag him to their tent.

**Later that night**

Everypony was sound asleep in their tents. However in my tent, I was tossing and turning in my sleep. I was having another nightmare.

_I was standing in a place I've never seen before; there was a thick cloud of freezing fog around me. The only warm air I could get was the air coming out of my mouth as I breathed, it would quickly mix with the fog and turn cold._

_I slowly walked through the fog, minding my steps each time I lifted my hoof. I couldn't see through the fog and I was worried that I would trip on something._

_Just then, the wall of fog in front of me split open; revealing a giant black mountain full of caves. There was a ghostly green glow shining inside each cave. It was in that moment, I knew where I was._

"_Mount forbidden…no, it's not real. This isn't real…" I said to myself._

"_Oh, but it is…it's nothing but real." A dark familiar voice whispered behind me; causing me to freeze in fear._

_I slowly turned around to see a pair of glowing red eyes in the fog, the eyes came closer before the fog started to form into a face which I thought I'd never see again._

"_Thorn…no, you're dead. I saw you die." I said in horror._

"_You killed me, you're the reason I'm trapped here in this fog. I will see to it that you will pay, and I'll be here waiting for you to join me…and when you do, I'll make you suffer even then." Thorn yelled before he pounced towards me._

_I fell back onto my back as Thorn landed on me and pinned me down, his fog-like horn glowed and a beam shot down towards my face. Everything went black._

"_Matt?...Matt, are you awake?" a soft female voice echoed in the darkness._

My eyes shot open and I looked around my surroundings to see I was back in my tent. I breathed heavily as I felt my heart pound against my chest. I took one last deep breath as I calmed down.

"Matt?" the female voice said again, I turned in the direction it came from to see Sweetie Belle standing at the entrance to my tent.

"Sweetie Belle…what're you doing? Aren't you supposed to be asleep?" I asked as I rubbed my left eye with my hoof.

Sweetie Belle then came closer to me. "Yeah, but I can't sleep. Diamond Tiara's story's really scared me, can…can I sleep with you tonight?" she asked sweetly.

I looked into her eyes to see she was frightened; I then gave her a warm smile. "Sure, there's a spare pillow and blanket in my bag." I said.

Sweetie Belle then gave me a small smile before she walked over to my saddle-bag and pulled out the pillow and blanket. She then set up her bed beside mine before she laid her head on the pillow.

"Goodnight, Matt. And thanks." She said kindly.

"No problem, Goodnight." I said before I laid my head back down on my pillow and closed my eyes.

After a few minutes of trying to sleep again, I felt something strange beneath my blanket. It felt as though something was crawling up along the blanket.

As I started to wonder what it was, Sweetie Belle's head emerged from the blanket and laid down on my pillow beside my head. I felt her small body snuggle up against mine and I looked at her.

She had a smile on her face while her eyes were closed. I didn't know what to think; she had gotten out of her own bed and joined me in mine. Does she feel safer with me? Does she want me to keep her warm? All these questions went through my head.

I couldn't help but smile warmly at her as I wrapped my wing around her and pulled her closer. I then planted a small kiss on her for-head. "Goodnight, Sweetie Belle." I whispered.

I closed my eyes and soon went to sleep. And with Sweetie Belle sleeping safely beside me, I somehow knew I wasn't going to have a nightmare again.

**The next day: Ponyville Schoolhouse**

After another long train ride, we were finally back in Ponyville.

I was standing in front of my desk looking at all the kids sitting behind their desks waiting to go home. "Well, did everyone enjoy our trip?" I asked.

Everypony then nodded. "Great, now one final thing before we all go home. I'd like to say that despite Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's little prank, I think you all behaved yourselves really well while we were there, I'm proud of all of-"

I couldn't finish my sentence as I heard the door open, I looked over to the door to see Cheerilee walk in. "Miss Cheerilee?...Your leg, it's better." I said in surprise.

Cheerilee walked up to me with a smile. "Yes, it is. I just got out of the wheelchair this morning. Now I can come back and teach again." she cheered.

Even though I felt happy that she was better, I felt kinda sad that this would mean I would have to go. "Oh…t-that's great, Miss Cheerilee. I'm happy for you." I said with a forced smile.

"Matthew, I can't thank you enough for filling in for me. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" Cheerilee asked with a thankful smile.

"…Can I say one last thing to the kids?" I asked.

"Of course you can, Matt. go right ahead!" Cheerilee said as she took a few steps back to give me room.

I then turned my attention to the kids before I spoke. "Well…it looks like I won't be teaching you anymore. But hey, you got Miss Cheerilee back, how great's that?" I said.

All the kids then smiled in delight that their teacher had come back; I smiled back before I looked back at Cheerilee. "Well…I'll just be going then. Everyone's glad to see you back, Miss Cheerilee." I said trying to act happy.

Cheerilee noticed the odd sound in my voice. "Are you ok, Matt?" she asked with slight concern.

I quickly nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll just…leave you to take care of the kids." I said before I walked passed her.

Cheerilee watched me as I walked passed her and towards the door. But just as I was about to walk out of the school, I felt a hoof touch one of my hind-legs. I turned around to see Applebloom with a small frown.

I turned around to face her better before I spoke. "Don't worry, Applebloom! You'll see me around town; this isn't a goodbye forever thing." I said.

"I know…we're just gonna miss ya and all." Applebloom said as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked up beside her.

I lowered my head down to them. "You girls know that Miss Cheerilee is the best teacher in town, you had her way before me."

"Yeah, Miss Cheerilee's the best teacher we could ever ask for…but _you're_ the best substitute we've ever had." Sweetie Belle said with a warm smile.

I felt heart-warmed by what she said and I smiled warmly back, the three girls then came closer to me before we all shared a nice hug. "…I'll miss you too." I whispered.

Cheerilee watched us with a sweet smile before she rubbed her chin with her hoof, her smile then grew as she gained an idea. "Umm…Matthew, I think I may have a proposal for you."

I broke my hug with the girls before I looked over to her with wonder.

"You see, I have lots of paperwork to do at my house, and sometimes I can't do them because I'm too busty teaching the kids. So whenever I'm busy at home or I'm ill, can I count on you to fill in for me in those times?" Cheerilee asked.

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked up at me with large smiles. I was surprise by this offer; she wanted me to be her backup teacher when she's unable to come. I smiled at her. "Yeah…I'd like that." I answered.

Cheerilee nodded. "It's settled then, you can be my backup teach whenever I'm busy at home."

Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had cheerful smiles as they hugged me again, I hugged them back.

Suddenly, the school bell rang and all the kids jumped off their stools and made their way towards the door. "Ok, kids. Enjoy you're weekend! I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday." Cheerilee said as she watched the kids leave.

"Yeah, see ya then, Miss Cheerilee. See ya, Matt." Applebloom said as she and the others walked passed us and out the door.

**Later: Ponyville streets**

After all the kids were gone and the school was locked up, me and Cheerilee were walking through the streets of town together.

"Well, it looks like somepony's taken my place while I was gone." Cheerilee joked with a smirk.

I quickly looked over to her. "Oh, no…I'd never do that. They're all glad you're back, Cheerilee. I know they are, it's probably just-"

"Matt, calm down! I was teasing you; I saw how much they love you, you've done a great job with them. Now I'm really glad I asked you to fill in for me." Cheerilee said.

"Thanks, Cheerilee. It's funny though. At first, I thought I wouldn't like it because I didn't like school back home. But after my first day, I started to enjoy it, I enjoyed being with them." I said.

"That's exactly how I felt after my first day, that's how I got my cutie mark. When I realised how much I loved teaching, my smiling flowers appeared." Cheerilee said as she looked back at her cutie mark.

"Yeah…well, I'd better get home to Twilight. I've missed her while I was at that camp. See ya some other time, Cheerilee." I said as I began to walk away from her.

Cheerilee waved me off. "Bye, Matthew. I'll see you later, and thanks again." I heard her say.

"No problem." I said loudly as I began to gallop towards the library so I could get there faster and see Twilight again.

**Meanwhile: Far away village**

In a village far away from Ponyville, a forger was working hard. He was a grey unicorn pony.

He pulled a hot piece of metal out of the fire and placed it on an anvil before he used his magic to lift his large hammer and hammered it hard.

Once he stopped, he wiped the sweat of his head before he turned around to get another object to hammer. Once he turned back to the anvil, he was surprised by the sight of the silhouetted alicorn with the fiery red mane and tail standing on the other side.

"AH…oh, it's just you. What're you trying to do? Make me jump out my skin?" the forger said in annoyance.

"Not quite…I'm here for…_it_." the alicorn said with shifty eyes.

"…It?...don't know what you're talking about." The forger said.

The alicorn glared at him. "Oh, I believe you do. The _artefact_…where is it?" he asked aggressively.

The forger remained silent, the alicorn the smacked him across the face with his hoof. "WHERE?" he yelled.

The forger rubbed his cheek as it stung. "Urr…what makes you think I know? I've haven't seen that thing is years."

"You had possession of it once. I need to know who you gave it to and where I can find them. And you're going to tell me, one way, or the other." The alicorn growled.

The forger glared up at him. "I'm not saying anything to the likes of you, you don't scare me as much as your brother does." He said.

The alicorn glared harder before his horn glowed red. Just then, the chains hung up on the walls shot towards the forger and wrapped around his limbs. As he struggled, chains wrapped around his head and pulled it down onto the anvil.

The alicorn then used his magic to pick up the forger's largest hammer and hovered it above his head. "Don't worry! I'm sure if I bash your head open, all sorts of secrets will dump out." he said darkly.

The forger's eyes widened in fright as the alicorn raised the hammer up. "WAIT! WAIT! Ok, I don't know where it is, but I think I know how you can find it."

The alicorn raised his eye brow before he dropped the hammer on the floor and released the forger. After taking a few deep breaths, he spoke. "I've heard that there's this spell…one that helps you find things that are lost. But it's not as easy as normal spells."

"Yes…I am familiar with it. My brother's book holds that spell, but it requires a magic far greater than any other." The alicorn said before he thought deeply.

"I believe…I may know just what needs to be done." The alicorn said before he turned around a walked towards the exit.

"So…does this mean I'm off some kinda hook?" the forger asked nervously.

The alicorn then stopped in his tracks before he smiled deviously. His horn glowed red again and the chains once again wrapped around the forger's limbs and pulled him up against the wall.

"HEY, w-what're you doing? Let me go!" the forger yelled in fright.

The alicorn turned around to face him. "Oh, I can't do that. You didn't expect me to let you go with knowledge of my plan, did you?" he asked in a sly voice.

The forger gave him a confused look. "W…What knowledge? What plan?"

"…My plan to overthrow my brother, of course." The alicorn said darkly.

The forge looked at him with wide eye. "B-But, I didn't know anything about that."

"Well, now you do. And from my point of view, you now know way too much." The alicorn said as his horn glowed brightly.

"No…no, please…don't! NOO." The forger yelled in horror.

With that, a large bolt of red lightning shot out of the alicorn's horn and struck the helpless forger; killing him.

The room was then silent, the chains untied themselves and the forger's lifeless body fell to the floor. "Too bad…he made such good armour." The alicorn said.

He then walked out of the forger's shop before he turned around and his horn glowed again, red flames then shot out of his horn like a flamethrower and ignited the entire shop. He stood there as he watched it burn.

"I must convince my brother to agree to use the spell to find the artefact. But one problem, the spell requires a great amount of magic to do it. And I know exactly what we need. And once my brother finally locates the artefact, I just need to get it before he can…then he'll be like clay in my hooves for me to mould." The alicorn said with an evil smile.

His horn then glowed again before a bolt of red flames formed around him. When the flames cleared, he was gone; leaving the former forger's shop to continue to burn to the ground.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Looks like one of the alicorn's has plans for the leader, and it must be bothersome to only know him as **_**the alicorn.**_** So that's why I'm giving you all a vote to know his name early.**

**The choices are.**

**1: **_**Learn the traitor alicorn's name in the next chapter.**_

**Or 2: **_**Wait until later in the story**_**.**

**And don't just tell me in a review, go on my profile and vote!**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	33. Chapter 33: Family matter part 1

**Hey everypony, I'm really proud of how fast I've done this chapter. I've had a good day at collage today, so I hope you like this chapter and make my day even better. :D**

**Ok, votes are once again in. And we have an obvious winner. The traitor alicorn's name will be revealed in this chapter at some point.**

**I had to change some lyrics in the song I used in this chapter so they'd make sense.**

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter! It's one some of you have been waiting for.**

**(Warning: long chapter.)**

Chapter 33: Family matter (part 1)

It's been a week since Miss Cheerilee returned to teach the kids again.

Twilight was happy when I returned from the camping trip, but she wanted me to do one thing if I ever went far away again…she told me to never leave her with Jeff again.

Afterwards, Me and Twilight went to Sugar Cube Corner where I was caught off guard by a surprise party to celebrate our engagement. Which of course, was hosted by Pinkie Pie.

I was slightly upset that I wouldn't be teaching the kids as often anymore, but at least I didn't have to wear that bow-tie anymore either.

******Ponyville library**

It was night time in Ponyville and everyone in town was fast asleep, including Me and Twilight.

However, I was having another nightmare and I was tossing and turning in the bed.

_I was in the Ever Free Forest, it was darker than usual and all the tree branches looked like claws ready to grab me. I breathed silently as I walked slowly through the forest, shifting my eyes in all directions to watch out for danger._

_Suddenly, I heard a twig snap behind me and I spun around fast. I looked closely into the darkness in the trees before I saw a shadowed figure move from behind one tree to the other._

_I knew it was getting closer, so I did the one thing I could think of in that time of panic. I ran._

_I galloped through the forest as fast as I could. I tried to flap my wings and fly away, but for some reason my body felt really heavy and I couldn't even lift off the ground. So I kept running._

_As I ran through the trees, I kept looking back to see the shadowed figure still lurking in the darkness, I galloped my legs as fast as I could to get away. As I did, tips of low tree branches and bushes scratched against my coat, it felt as if I was being clawed by sharp nails. Some of them left small cuts on my body which started to bleed._

_I also tripped over a curved log and fell into a puddle of mud, I quickly got up and continued galloping with the shadowed figure still following closely behind._

_I finally ran out of the other side of the forest covered in mud and a small amount of my own blood, I breathed heavily as I began to tire out from running so much. _

_But suddenly, I was forced to stop running by coming up to a cliff. I looked down from the ledge to see a deep chasm with nothing but a cloud of fog at the bottom. _

_I then heard a crushing noise behind me, I sounded as if a tree was being forced to fall over. I turned around to see two trees fiercely bent apart to reveal a silhouetted alicorn standing between them with glowing red eyes. _

_A first, I thought it was Thorn again. But then I looked closer and saw that it was a female with a familiar figure. The silhouetted figure looked like Nightmare Moon._

"_Nightmare Moon?...Luna?" I asked as I slowly backed away._

_She didn't say anything, she just grinned evilly as she began to walk closer to me. I backed away more before one of my hind-legs slipped of the edge of the cliff and the rest of me fell._

_I held myself on the edge of the cliff with my front arms as my legs dangled, I felt myself become heavier as I tried to pull myself back up. Until, the mysterious female alicorn came up to me and looked down at me. _

_I couldn't see if it was Nightmare Moon, she only had the same figure as her, but I couldn't see her face, and her mane and tail looked more like fire than ripples._

"_Luna…if that's you…please, snap out of it! Don't let it control you again!" I said while struggling to keep myself up on the edge._

_Just then, the alicorn's horn glowed purple. My eyes widened before a purple bolt of lightning shot down and struck me; forcing me to let go and fall off the cliff._

_Hopelessly flapping my wings, I yelled in fright as I fell down the cliff and into the thick fog below. And then everything went dark._

"_Matt, wake up! Please, wake up!" a familiar female voice said with worry._

My eyes shot open and I quickly leaned up on the bed breathing heavily, I looked around to see I was in the library and I calmed down.

I then turned my head to the side of the bed to see Twilight also leaned up on the bed; she was looking at me with worry in her eyes. "Are you ok? You were whimpering in your sleep again." she said.

I then slowly rubbed my face with my hooves as I exhaled loudly. "Yeah…I'm fine…it was nothing." I said before I removed my hooves and looked down at the covers covering my legs.

"You were having a nightmare again, weren't you? That's the third one this week. Matt, I'm really starting to worry about this." Twilight said in a concerned tone.

I then turned my head to face her. "Don't worry, Twi! They're just nightmares…I'm sure they'll go eventually." I said.

"That's like what Rainbow Dash said last week. Yet night after night, I always wake up to see you rolling around in the bed with a scared look on your face. If this keeps up, you'll soon be afraid to even _try_ to sleep." she said.

"Look, I know it's getting kinda strange, but-" I was then cut off by Twilight.

"It's getting more than strange, Matt. Nopony has ever had nightmares for this long before, especially when it happens almost every night. I think we should tell the Princess about this." Twilight said.

"Are you sure, Twi? What if it's just a case of normal bad dreams? Then we would've bothered the Princess for nothing." I said.

"Matt, when it first started, I also thought it was nothing. But now that it's happening almost every night, I'm starting to think it's a bit more serious than that. Also, doesn't it bother you that your nightmares always involve some dark pony trying to kill you?" Twilight asked with a raised eye brow.

I thought about what she said and she was right, my nightmares always had a silhouetted alicorn chasing me through some dark land…namely, Thorn. "Well…yeah, it's a coincidence. But that doesn't mean that-"

"And what about that Mount Forbidden place you told me about? Most of your nightmares involve you being there; doesn't that strike you as a bit strange too?" Twilight asked.

I then held my hoof up. "Ok, I get it. Now you put it that way, it does seem a bit odd….so what should we do?" I asked.

"I'll write a letter to the princess tomorrow, but it's too late to do that right now, so let's just try and go back to sleep!" Twilight said.

We then laid back down on the bed with our heads on the pillows, I nudged up closer to Twilight and wrapped my arms around her. I figured I would have less chance of having another nightmare if I was closer to her.

We both then went back to sleep in each other's warmth and comfort.

******Then next day: Ponyville streets**

With Cheerilee teaching again, I got my delivering job back. I was walking through the streets pulling my delivery cart behind me with Jeff on my back.

However, I was really sleepy due to last night's problems. I kept dozing off at some points; I forced my eyes to stay open when they really wanted to shut. In fact I was so sleepy; I was even falling asleep while walking.

And to make matters worse, my job was only halfway done. I still had a few more deliveries to make.

"So Matt, I heard you've been having bad nightmares lately. Wanna tell old Jeff about it?" Jeff asked but I didn't answer, he raised his eyes brow. "…Matt?"

He then climbed on top of my head and looked down at my face to see my head was hanging with my eyes closed. Jeff rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Oh, not again! MATT, wake up!" he yelled as he stomped his foot on my head.

My eyes shot opened and I lifted my head up. "WHAT?...oh sorry, Jeff. I'm…err…kinda sleepy today." I said as I kept walking.

"I know, this is the third time you've fallen asleep today. Dude, if this keeps up, Applejack's gonna find out and you'll be in trouble. You know how she is about her business, she'll probably fire you." Jeff said.

I shook my head slightly. "I doubt she'd do that." I stated. I then gave it some thought and Applejack does act more serious when it comes to her farm work. "…Well, just to be safe, I probably should find something to wake me up." I said.

Jeff then looked around before he saw a wooden bucket of water sitting beside a nearby well, he then grinned. "I'm on it." he stated before he flew off my head.

He flew over to the bucket before he grabbed the handle with his talons and carried it back to me.

Once he was close enough to me, he swung the bucket back and forth before he swung it forward and let go of the handle.

The water in the bucket came out and splashed on top of me, followed by the actual bucket hitting me on top of my head. "OW." I yelled as I rubbed my soaking head with my hoof.

I glared up at Jeff. "Damn it, Jeff. What was that for?" I yelled in an irritated tone.

Jeff then landed in front of me and crossed his wings. "Well, you said find something to wake you up, so I did. Throwing a bucket of water over your head wakes you up when you're sleepy."

I then face-hooved myself before I looked down at him with an annoyed look. "Jeff…when someone says _throw a bucket of water over them,_ they mean the water _in_ the bucket, not the whole bucket." I said loudly.

"Now ya tell me." Jeff said as he turned around and walked away.

I groaned in annoyance before I followed him to continue my job. Despite the small pain now on my head, I was now more awake because of the water. I could now continue my work without falling asleep.

******Later that day: Library**

After finally finishing my work, I returned back to the library to have a rest.

"I don't know about you, Jeff. But I'm so taking a long shower; I need one to calm my nerves." I said in an exhausted voice.

"Yeah, I'm probably gonna take a bird-nap." Jeff said as he laid back against the back of my neck and closed his eyes.

I turned my head around to look at him. "You can take your bird-nap, just not on me!" I said.

Jeff then leaned back up and crossed his wings. "Fine." He groaned.

I then walked up to the front door and pushed it open with my hoof before I walked inside; I looked around the room to see no one was in the room. I then closed the front door.

"Twi?...I'm home, you here?" I called, I got no answer.

Jeff also looked around. "Weird, she was here when we left."

Just then, I heard another door open and I looked in the direction the noise came from to see Twilight walk in from the other room. I smiled warmly at her. "Hey Twi, I was starting to wonder if you were gone for a moment there?"

I looked closer at the expression on Twilight's face, she looked troubled…more troubled then usual. "Twi, is everything ok?" I asked.

Twilight then came closer to me. "Matt…while you were gone, some ponies came to the house…they're in the other room." she said.

I leaned my head to look behind her but I couldn't see into the other room. "Really, who are they?" I asked calmly.

Twilight then placed her hooves on my shoulders. "Matt, wait!...it's gonna be a bit of a shock."

"Twilight, you're starting to worry me. Who's in there? Are they trying to hurt you?" I asked with concern.

Twilight shook her head. "No, they're not. You should probably go in and see them…they've been waiting for you." she said as she removed her hooves from my shoulders and stepped to the side to let me pass.

I looked at the door to the next room in wonder before I slowly walked towards it. Once I reached it, I slowly placed my hoof on the door and gently pushed it open.

As the door opened more and more, I soon saw three unfamiliar ponies each sitting on a chair.

One was a large light blue male Earth pony with glasses and a bold head; he had a small amount of dark hair at the back of his head though. He had a shaved beard, and blue eyes.

The second was a white female Earth pony with short dark brown hair; she had blue eyes as well.

And the last was a light velvet female unicorn pony with long dark brown hair, she too had blue eyes.

I looked at them with confusion. "I'm sorry, can I help you three?" I asked.

They looked at me with wide eyes before the unicorn got up and walked up to me, I was starting to get uncomfortable with the way she was looking at me. She was looking at me dead in the eyes. "Emm…do you mind stepping back? You're a bit too close." I said.

She looked at me as if she'd seen a ghost. "…Matt?...is that you?" she asked in what was surprisingly enough, a British voice.

I looked at her with surprise. "How do you know my name?" I asked.

"Matt…i-it's me…don't you remember?" she asked. Her voice sounded so familiar, I just couldn't put my hoof on it.

I then looked closer at her and I looked into her eyes. It then hit me like a ton of bricks, the voice, those eyes, it all pointed to one person. My eyes grew widener. "…J-…Jess?" I said.

She then nodded. I couldn't believe it…Jess, my older sister, was here. I was frozen with complete shock, tears started to form in both our eyes before we moved closer and shared a large hug.

We both hugged each other tightly before I opened my eyes and looked at the other two ponies now standing behind Jess. We broke the hug and they came closer. I looked at the white Earth pony. "…Mum?" I said; she nodded.

I then looked at the large light blue Earth pony. "…Dad." I didn't even have to make it sound like a question. He nodded too.

We all took a moment before ,Me, my mother and my Dad shared a large tight hug. I could hear my mother trying to hold back from crying. I hugged her tighter as a tear rolled down my cheek. "We thought you were lost." I heard her say.

"It's alright…I'm here." I whispered.

Jess then joined in our hug, now we were sharing a large family hug. I was reunited with my family that I hadn't seen is months.

Twilight stood by the doorway with a warm smile on her face. However, there was something about this that made her wonder what would happen next.

After a few minutes, we broke the hug and wiped the tears out of our eyes. "I-I can't believe you're all here…how'd you get here?"

Jess then stepped forward. "After you disappeared, we had the police looking for you. I wanted to tell them you fell through some sort of hole in the air, but no one would ever believe me. But I knew what I saw…I missed you, we all did…we wanted to see you again so bad, that I did something that I didn't believe would work."

"And what was that?" I asked curiously.

"…I wished on a star…I wished for that thing to open again and take us to wherever you were…the next morning, we were in the living room. Then that black hole thing opened again in the middle of the room and we were all sucked into it. When we woke up, we were lying and on a road not far from here, we also found out we were turned to ponies. I knew that wherever we were, you'd be here because I wished to be where you were." Jess explained.

"Then what happened?" I asked.

"Well, it was morning. We found some sort of farm near the road and we saw this…orange pony with a cowboy hat. I recognized her though; she was a character in that show you like. We asked about you, she said she knew you and that you lived in the library in town with someone named Twilight." Jess explained.

I then turned my head around to look at Twilight who was still standing in the door way. Jess then continued. "We came here this morning and Twilight said you were busy working, so we decided to stay and wait for you to come back."

I then looked back at them with sorrow in my eyes. "Look…I'm sorry I was gone for so long…if there was any way to contact you, you know I would've-"

I was cut off by my mother. "It's alright, Matt…what matters is you're safe…" she said sweetly before she hugged me again. I hugged her back.

After a few seconds, I broke the hug and looked back at Twilight. I smiled warmly at her before I held my hoof out to her, Twilight smiled warmly before she took my hoof and came closer. I looked back at my family. "Guys, this is Twilight Sparkle. She let me stay with her when I first arrived." I said.

Twilight smiled nervously at them. "Hello, it's nice to meet you all." She said.

"Oh, it's nice to meet you too." My mother greeted kindly.

Jess looked closer at Twilight. "Hey, isn't she one of the main characters from your show? I recognize her." She said.

I shifted my eyes left and right nervously; Twilight looked at me with confusion. "Matt, what's she talking about?" she asked.

"Oh, it's nothing, Twi. Excuse me for a second!" I said before I quickly walked over to the other side of the room while gently pushing my family to come with me. Once we were on the other side, I started to whisper to them. "Ok, here's the thing. Please don't talk about the show around anyone here!" I said calmly.

"Why?" my Dad asked.

"Because none of them know about it, they have no idea that back home they're characters in a TV show. So could you all please keep the show on the down-low?" I said, they all then nodded in agreement.

"Alright, but Matt, how is this place real? How are we here?" Jess asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know, but it is. I know it's strange, but it's real. And let me tell you this, everyone in this world is as real as the world itself." I said.

They all looked at each other before they looked back at me, I then turned around and walked back up to Twilight. "Is everything alright?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, everything's fine, sweet-heart." I said sweetly.

Jess gave me a confused look. "…Sweet-heart?..." Her eyes then widened as if something was wrong. "Matt…what exactly have you been doing while you've been here?" she asked.

Me and Twilight then looked at each other before I looked back at them with a serious look. "…There's…something I need to tell you." I said.

******Meanwhile: Rarity's boutique **

Rarity was working on a new design for Twilight's wedding dress, the floor was covered in scrunched up paper with old designs of the dress drawn on them.

Her mane had small strings of hair sticking out of it, she was putting every ounce of her concentration into her work,

She drew the design slowly with a pencil that she was holding with her magic. "Careful…carful…" she repeated to herself.

Suddenly, WHAM, the front door swung open and Pinkie Pie came rushing in with an excited look on her face. "Rarity, guess what! Guess what! Guess what!" she yelled.

Rarity was over startled and dropped her pencil, she shot Pinkie Pie an annoyed look. "Pinkie, freeze!" she snapped.

Pinkie Pie then stopped frozen on the spot just in front of Rarity. Rarity then looked back at her design with worry to see that nothing went wrong, she then exhaled in relief.

She then looked back at Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie, you nearly made me ruin my design. This had better be important." She said firmly.

Pinkie then muffled something with her lips closed tight; Rarity looked at her with confusion. "Excuse me?"

Pinkie muffled something again, Rarity then realised why she was doing this and rolled her eyes. "You can un-freeze now."

Pinkie Pie then smiled. "Thanks. Anyway, I just heard some great exciting news." She cheered.

"Oh? What is it?" Rarity asked curiously.

"Well Applejack told Fluttershy, who told Bon Bon, who told Cheerilee, who told Derpy, who told Mr Waddle, (big inhale) who told Mayor Mare, who told Rainbow Dash, who told me…Matt's family's in town." Pinkie said with a large smile.

Once Rarity heard that, she grew a cheerful smile. "Really, Matthew's family here? Where?"

"At Twilight's place, we should go over there and say hello." Pinkie said while jumping up and down on the spot.

"Oh no, Pinkie. I can't, I have a lot of work to do if I'm ever going to finish Twilight's dress. It must look fabulous for her when she sees it, and it's hard enough as it is." Rarity said as she turned her attention back on her work.

"Come on, Rarity! Your design isn't gonna go anywhere, and we've never met Mattie's family before, aren't you curious to find out what they're like?" Pinkie asked.

Rarity then gave it some thought before she made her decision. "Well…I guess there's nothing wrong with taking a little break, especially when it's to meet Matthew's family." She said.

Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeah, so you're in?" she asked with a large smile.

Rarity smiled as she let out a sigh. "Very well, I'm in."

"Yay, but first we have to get the others, they'll want to see this." Pinkie Pie stated cheerfully as she and Rarity walked towards the door to leave the boutique.

******Later that evening: Library**

Me, Twilight and my family were in the living room. Spike, Jeff and Peewee had already introduced themselves to my family, they were startled by the fact Jeff could talk.

However, I had to point out they were in a world filled with talking ponies, so a talking parrot shouldn't be too shocking.

After a long nervous talk, I told my family everything about what happened after I arrived here. How I had a job working for Applejack, how I was a substitute teacher at the schoolhouse, even the dance where Twilight and I first kissed. And believe me, they were more than shocked to find out that I was engaged to Twilight.

Me and Twilight chose it best not to tell them about the incident with Thorn, we didn't want them to freak out about me nearly getting killed by a blood-thirsty alicorn.

Jess was pacing around the room trying to think about all this, none of them look very happy about this.

"So let me get this straight, Twilight let you stay in her home, you two started to like each other, and now you say you're in love with her and want to marry her?" Jess asked with a shocked look.

I smiled nervously. "Err…yeah." I said.

"…I don't know what to say, I don't even know what to think." Jess stated loudly.

"Matt, you're too young to get married. You don't know that much about a married life." My mother said calmly.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I do. And don't worry about the age thing! In this world, we are old enough to get married. There's loads of married ponies our age." I stated.

"Well what about bills? How are you going to pay them?" my Dad asked.

"Never had any so far. Plus, if we do get some, I have my pay from my job at Applejack's farm." I said.

"And how much does it pay?" My mother asked.

"One hundred bits per-day, and I work there five days a week." I said with a cheeky smirk.

My family looked at me in surprise. "Really, you get paid that much. That Applejack person must be loaded." Jess said.

"Well, she _does_ own her own business with her family. So yeah, she would have a lot of money." I said calmly.

"Well, what about school? You need to be at school to learn how to live your own life." My Dad said.

"Dad, I live here and it's been easy. I've got a job, I've got a house, I've got everything I need to live my own life. And also, I work as a substitute teacher at the schoolhouse down the road and the kids say I'm the best substitute they've ever had." I explained.

"What about your eczema and asthma? You need to have your inhaler and your cream. If you don't have your cream, your skin will get itchy and dry, then it'll get raw and you'll be in a lot of pain. And if you don't have your inhaler, you'll get really wheezy and you could have an asthma attack." My mother stated.

I gave her a pleased smile. "That's the best part, Mum. I'm cured." I cheered.

She gave me a confused look. "You're cured? You can't be cured, you've had them all your life, they don't just disappear."

"They do if you use magic like Twilight did a while back. She used her magic to cure my diseases, have you noticed I haven't scratched once while I've been sitting here?" I asked with a proud smile.

My mother then thought about it and her eyes widened slightly. "No…you haven't, have you?...oh my god, I think you really are cured, but how?" she asked in shock.

"One thing you should know about Twilight, never underestimate her magic skills." I said with a smirk.

"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Jess said with a raised eye brow.

I shrugged. "Pretty much." I said.

"Well how about this one, what about us? We haven't seen you in months and you've been here the whole time building your own life without us in it." Jess said loudly.

"Jess, there's no need to shout." My mother said calmly.

Jess then turned her head to face her. "Yeah, but he-"

"Let us talk to him!" my Dad said firmly. Jess then sat down on a nearby chair and crossed her arms.

After a moment of silence, my mother spoke. "Matt…we don't know what's happened; we don't know how we're here. All we know is that you've obviously formed your own life together and you like it. Believe me, I'm happy for you…it's just…it's a lot to take in and we don't know what we should do about it." She said.

I then thought of a suggestion, but I was afraid they wouldn't agree to it. "Well…you could always…let me continue it." I said nervously.

They all looked at me with silent stares; I was beginning to worry what they would say next. "You mean you want us to let you stay here with these ponies?" my Dad said.

I didn't say anything, I just nodded. The moment was once again silent; I was worried that they would refuse. "But Matt, what about back home in England? Don't you miss things there?" my mother asked.

I looked at her. "I do miss things but…I have so many things here that I didn't have back home." I said calmly.

"Like what?" Jess asked.

"I didn't have any real friends back home, but here everypony in town is my friend. I didn't have a job, but here I have one that pays really well….And I didn't have a girlfriend back home, let alone a fiancée. Twilight is everything I wanted in a girl, she loves me and I love her. She's the only girl who's ever liked me, I…don't want to leave her." I said with slight sadness.

Twilight kept looking over to my parents with worry in her eyes; she was worried that I would have to go back with them and leave her.

My mother then got up off her chair and sat down beside me, I saw slight sadness in her eyes. "Matt…I don't know…you're our son, we love you…you know we'd do anything to make you happy…but…"

I couldn't help but notice she was having trouble saying what she wanted, so I quickly locked her in a hug and she hugged back. At that moment, my Dad got up and stood in front of me.

"Matt…I know you've grown to love this world and Twilight…I know you don't want to lose it all, but do you want to know what I think you should do?" my Dad said calmly.

I looked at him, my body temperature raised as I began to worry about what he might say. "I think you should-"

My Dad was interrupted by the front door opening; revealing the rest of the main 6 behind it. "Hi, Mattie." Pinkie Pie yelled cheerfully.

They all then entered the library and my family looked at them with wonder. "Who're these girls?" my mother asked.

"These are my closest friends here." I said as I walked up to them and introduced them. "This is Applejack, this is Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash." I said as I pointed to each one.

Applejack walked up to my Dad and shook his hoof fast. "You must be Matt's daddy, I'm glad to finally meet ya'all." She said with a friendly smile before she let go of his hoof.

"Emm…nice to see you too." My Dad said awkwardly.

Jess then gave me a smirk. "So…these girls are your friends, hmm? Well you've diffidently had some good company while you've been here; I bet you've enjoyed it too."

I knew what she meant and I blushed deeply. "Hey, I'm a one-girl kinda guy. I mean, I love them as friends, but I don't love them as in I'm _in_ love with them." I quickly protested.

Jess still had her smirk. "I know, I was just messin' with ya."

"You know I don't like being teased." I said in a winey voice, Jess laughed.

"Matthew, who's this you're talking to?" Rarity asked as she walked up to us.

"This is my sister, Jess." I said to her.

Rarity smiled at her. "Oh, what a lovely name. And I just love what you've done with your hair." She complimented as she pointed at Jess's hair.

Jess gave her a thankful smile. "Thanks, I like yours too." She said; causing Rarity to smile proudly.

I smiled at this. "I can see you two are gonna get along nicely." I said.

While Rarity was talking to Jess, my mother walked over to the rest. Fluttershy then made the first move. "H-Hello, I'm Fluttershy. Are you Matthew's mom?" she asked with a small smile.

My mother smiled at her. "Yes, I am." she then noticed the shy look on Fluttershy's face. "Are you alright, did I do something?"

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh no, I'm just really shy when it comes to…first meetings." She said shyly.

My Dad then walked up beside my mother and Pinkie Pie looked at him. "Oh, you must be Mattie's dad. It's great to meet you, it's always great to meet new ponies." she said loudly with excitement.

My mother and Dad didn't know exactly how to respond to her, so I came in to help them. "Sorry, this is Pinkie Pie, she's kinda over hyper most of the time." I explained.

My Dad looked down at me. "It looks like you got some interesting friends here, Matt. You've really got something here."

I was about to say something before I was interrupted by Applejack wrapping her arm around me. "He sure has, and we're lucky to have such a hard workin' sport like him as our friend. He's the best delivery pony Sweet Apple Arches could ask for, he always focuses on his work and does it with smile." She said.

"And he's an awesome flyer, you should've seen him when he won a big race in Cloudsdale. He was totally cool, and he performed a Sonic Rainboom to shoot passed the finish line." Rainbow Dash added.

"And he is just a dear when it comes to the care of the colts and fillies of the school. Sweetie Belle told me how you let her sleep beside you when she was scared at that camping trip you went on." Rarity added.

Jess looked at me with a raised eye brow. "Since when did you like little kids that much?" she asked.

I remembered back home how I didn't like little kids because of how immature they were. I definitely didn't teach at my school, but I did observe all the trouble little kids got into when they misbehaved. The thing that annoyed me about them was the fact they always tried to fight back against the teachers, they also swore at them and sometimes tried to hurt them. They made me so mad when they did that.

I looked over to Jess. "These kids are different than the ones back home, the ones I knew back home were pain in the ass, these kids are not." I stated.

"And since when did you want to teach anyway? Last time I checked, you hated school all together." Jess said.

"Hey, it wasn't really my choice. I was making my deliveries to the school, Miss Cheerilee had an accident…which mostly was my fault, she couldn't find anyone else on short notice, so I had to fill in for her. And you what? It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I liked being with those kids." I said.

Jess just looked at me with surprise before I looked up at me Dad. "Anyway, Dad, you were saying something about what we should do next…you said I should-…and that was it." I said.

Everyone looked over to us with wonder, especially Twilight. My Dad sighed before he spoke. "Matt…usually I would say you'd have to come back home, but after seeing how happy you are here and all the friends you have, I want you to stay happy. That's why I'm giving you the choice on what you want to do…you should make your own choice…that's what I was going to say before." He explained.

I was really surprised by this; he was giving me the chance to stay here with Twilight. Now there was only one problem, how to choose. If I choose to go home, I break Twilight's heart. If I choose to stay, I break their hearts. I really wanted to stay with Twilight, but I didn't know how to tell my family that.

I kept looking back and forth from my friends to my family, breathing heavily as I began to sweat. At that moment, I snapped. "I need a minute." I said before I shot out of the library and flew off into town.

Twilight's mouth hung open before she looked down at the floor with sadness; Rarity came up beside her and hugged her softly.

My mother then noticed her and gave her a concerned look. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Twilight looked at her. "…Matt doesn't know what to choose…if he chooses to go home, I'll lose him…I don't want to lose him…I…I love him." She said.

Jess walked up to her. "You really do, don't you?" Twilight nodded.

Twilight, my family, and all our friends stood there in silent as they looked out of the doorway into town.

******Later: Road outside Ponyville**

I was sitting on the bench next to the tree beside the road outside Ponyville, it was the same bench Me and Twilight sat on when we first kissed after the Ponyville dance.

I hanged my head as tear by tear rolled down both my cheeks, the soil beneath the bench had small wets spots because of my slow dripping tears falling down from my face.

I didn't know what to do, no matter what I would choose, someone will have a broken heart by the end of the day. But who will I choose? And whose heart will I break?

I didn't want to go back to the library after running away like that, I just wanted to stay on that bench for the rest of the day and avoid it all.

Just then, I felt someone sit beside me. I opened my eyes and turned my head to see Twilight with a sweet smile on her face, her eyes were slightly red and her bottom eye-lids were wet.

"Twilight…(sniff)…w-what're you doing here?" I asked wiping away my tears with my hoof.

"I came to check on you, I thought I'd find you here." Twilight said calmly with a smile.

I smiled back before we sat there in silence, Twilight then broke it. "Remember this place?" she asked.

"…How could I forget?...this is the same bench we sat on when we first kiss after the dance…we're even sat in the same places…that's the night that started something new and wonderful in my life." I said.

I looked at the warm smile on Twilight's beautiful face before I noticed the red in her eyes. "Twilight, have you been crying?" I asked with concern.

Twilight then wiped whatever tears she had left away with her hoof before she spoke. "Oh…yeah, I just…made a hard decision." She said with slight sadness.

I budged up closer to her. "What was it?" I asked quietly.

Twilight then looked me straight in the eyes. "Matt, I want you to know that…whatever you choose…I…I'll support you all the way…so if you want to go back with your family…I…I'll understand." She said with tears forming in her eyes.

I felt devastated; I wrapped my arm around her and wiped away her tears gently with my hoof. "Twilight…why would I want to leave you? I love you, you're the best thing that's ever happened to me…" I said quietly.

"So…you want to stay with me?..." Twilight asked.

"Of course I do, I just…don't know how I can tell them…I don't want to upset them, I don't want them to think that I don't like living with them, I love them." I explained.

"Well…if you do decide to go back with them, I want you to know that…no matter where you go, or how far you are…I will always love you, Matt." Twilight said with a warm smile that I knew she was forcing to stay up.

I smiled warmly back, Twilight moved closer to me and placed her hoof on my chest. As we looked deep in each other's eyes, Twilight started to sing.

**Twilight: **_"Angel in disguise…Stories in your eyes…_

_Love for every true heart that you seeee…_

_Was it just a lucky daaaay…that you turned and looked my waaaay?_

_Or is it heaven right before my very eyes?_

_You showed me all new things…a shimmer of moonbeams…_

_I was blind, but now you've helped me seeee…_

_I was lost, but now I'm foooound_

_Your happiness surroooounds_

_And now I find that my dreams can come truuuuuue_

'_Cause I'm gonna love you…for the rest of my life_

_I'm holding you safe here…in this heart of miiiiine_

_I can't live without you…'cause my soul would die_

_You know I'm telling the truth…_

_I'll spend the rest of my life…loving youuuu…._

_I didn't start this way…it happened just one day_

_You smiled at me, and I saw ya differentlyyyyyy…_

_Now I would travel just to beeee…a part of you as weeee_

_Begin a life that's sure to never eeeeeend_

'_Cause I'm gonna love you…for the rest of my life_

_I'm holding you safe here…in this heart of miiiiine…_

_I can't live without you…'cause my soul would die_

_You know I'm telling the truth…_

_I'll spend the rest of my life…loving youuuu…_

_The rest of my life, babe…_

_Loving you…"_

I was more than heart warmed by her song. I had truly found the love of my life, and she loved me just as much, he song made that clear.

We moved closer and held each other in loving warmth. At that moment, I thought about what would happen if I left her and my heart broke like a sensitive stick. Me and Twilight then looked into each other's eyes before we shared a loving passionate kiss.

My heart melted as we kissed, I could feel her cold leftover tears on her mouth. We then broke the kiss before we went back to cuddling each other.

Unknown to us, my family were standing a few feet behind us, they had seen and heard everything. They each had a sad look on their faces, especially my mother who was on the brink of crying.

They all looked at each other before they quietly turned around and walked back towards town. "Whow…I know Matt said he loved her, but I didn't know he loved her this much." Jess said.

My mother managed to get a hold of herself before she spoke. "We…we can't take him away from this, taking him away from that Twilight girl will leave him in a total mess."

"Well…what should we do?" Jess asked.

"…We'll wait for him back at the library, then we'll tell him what we think he should do." my Dad said as they kept walking back to town.

Meanwhile, I was still holding Twilight as tight as I could. I didn't want to let go; I wanted to hold her forever. And in that moment, I made my final decision. "I'll…I'll tell them." I said.

Twilight broke our cuddling and looked at me with wide eyes. "What?" she whispered.

"I'll tell them I want to stay…I'll try and let them down as easy as I can, but I'm not losing you, I can't lose you, not after everything we've done together." I stated.

"Will they listen? I mean, what if they decide against your choice?" Twilight said in a worried tone.

"They said it was my choice to make, they wouldn't tell me that if they were gonna do that." I said.

"…Ok, Matt, I trust you. I just hope they'll understand." Twilight said softly.

I looked down at the ground with my ears low. "So do I, Twi." I said quietly.

Twilight then came closer beside me and laid her head on my shoulder, I then wrapped my wing around her and pulled her closer as I thought about what I was gonna say to my family.

******That night: Library **

After a few long moments of thinking, we returned to the library.

I stopped in front of the front door and I didn't know if I could go any further, I then felt a hoof on my shoulder and I turned my head to see Twilight with a sweet smile on her face. "…We'll go in together." She said.

I smiled warmly back as I nodded; I then looked back at the door before I took a deep breath and pushed the door open with my hoof.

The door slowly opened to reveal my family and all our friends sitting in the living room, they all looked at us in silence as we entered the room and closed the door behind us. I looked over to my family before I walked over to them.

I didn't know where to go from there, I felt as though the words I wanted to say were stuck at the back of my throat. But after building enough confidence, I finally spoke. "Guys I…I know that you all love me…and I know you'd like me to go back with you…but…I…I don't know how to say it, but I-"

"Matt, it's alright…we know you want to stay with Twilight…you obviously love her, and she loves you…we don't think badly of you, we know you were happy living with us. But you'll be heartbroken if you left Twilight, won't you?" my Dad said.

I remained silent as I nodded.

"We love you, Matt. And we want you to be happy. So if being here with Twilight and your new friends makes you happy…then we'll understand if you want to stay." My mother said in an understanding voice.

I was surprised how they understood my feelings without me even telling them, I then looked at Jess. "Jess…how do you feel about me staying here?" I asked.

"It's your life; it's none of my business." Jess answered with a shrug.

I then looked at Twilight and my friends for a few seconds before I looked back at my family, I already made my decision, now I just had to tell them. "I…I want…I want to stay here…with Twilight…I'm sorry…" I said with tears forming in my eyes again.

My mother walked up to me and hugged me tightly. "It's alright…shhh…it's alright, Matt…we understand, we know you love them…calm down." My mother said sweetly.

I hugged her back. "I…I don't want you to think I'm not grateful for everything I had back home, I loved living with you…it's just I love Twilight, I've never met anyone like her…she's…she's" I tried to say.

"We know, we know…we'll let you stay, but on one condition. We get to visit you now and then, ok?" my mother said while continuing to hug me.

"…ok, I'm alright with that…" I said.

Me and my mother then broke the hug before Twilight stepped forward. "So, does this mean Matt can stay?" she asked with a smile growing on her face.

My mother then nodded to her. "Yes, it does." She answered.

Twilight, the rest of the main 6, Spike, Jeff and Peewee then smiled largely before Pinkie Pie shot up to me and hugged me tightly. "YAY, you get to stay with us." she cheered.

Her hug grew tighter and I felt like I was getting crushed. "Pinkie…choking, not breathing…" I managed to get out, Pinkie then released me and I inhaled loudly. She smiled sheepishly.

Just then, all the others ran up and formed a group hug around me with large smiles on their faces, my family smiled at this sight.

We all then broke our friendly group hug and I looked at Twilight, the sweet overjoyed smile on her face made me feel warm inside.

Our friends took a few steps back to give us room, there was a moment silence. "Well…she's your fiancée, isn't she? Kiss her already!" Jess said with a pleased smile.

I looked over to her before I looked back into Twilight's eyes, she placed her hoof at the back of my head before I leaned my head closer and we kissed deeply.

My family smiled warmly at me and my mother wiped a tear from her eye, it was a tear of happiness.

"Awww." Rarity said out loud as she smiled at the sight of us.

Me and Twilight then broke the kiss and smiled sweetly at each other, Applejack then turned her head to face the rest of the main 6. "Come on, ya'all! Let's give them all some privacy." She said as she walked towards the door.

The rest of the main 6 then followed her. But just then, someone wrapped their arms around my neck and hugged me from behind.

At first I thought it was Pinkie again, until I turned my head around to see it was Fluttershy. "I'm so glad you're staying, Matt." she said sweetly.

I just smiled at Fluttershy as she released me from her hug and calmly walked out of the library to catch up with the others, she shut the door behind her; leaving Me, Twilight, my family, Spike, Jeff and Peewee alone in the library.

I then looked at my family and gave them a thankful smiled. "Thank you, thank you so much for this. It means a lot to me." I said kindly.

"It's alright, buddy. But there's one thing we need to take care of." My Dad said in a serious voice.

"What is it?" I asked curiously.

"Well, you might want to live in this world, but we don't really want to. We want to go back home to England, we can't restart a life here, we have responsibilities back home." My Dad explained.

"Yeah, I have to go back to University soon." Jess added.

I then nodded to tell them that I understood. "Alright, I understand. Well, you can always visit anytime you want to, we'll always welcome you." I said.

"Hold on, Matt! We don't know how to get back; you need to show us how to open that…portal thing." Jess stated.

My eyes then widened slightly. "…You're…asking me to re-open it?" I asked, Jess nodded.

"…Oh dear, we have a problem. You see…I don't really know how to re-open it." I said before I smiled sheepishly.

They all looked at me with wide eyes. "…What?" Jess asked.

I became worried. "I don't know how it works, I've never thought about it until now." I stated.

"You mean we're all stuck here as ponies?" My Dad asked loudly.

I thought hard about it until I got an idea. "Wait, Princess Celestia might be able to send you back. She said she could do that once before." I said.

"Who?" my mother asked in confusion.

"Princess Celestia, she and her sister, Princess Luna, rule all of Equestria together. She's also my teacher. And I'm sure if anyone could send you home, it's her." Twilight explained.

"Well, can you call this…Princess Celestia and ask her to send us back?" Jess asked in what sounded like a frustrated tone.

"We can't right now, it's too late and she'll probably be asleep. But I can write a letter to her tomorrow, you can stay with us for tonight." Twilight suggested with a kind smile.

My family looked at each other before they looked back at us. "Well we don't really have much of a choice, do we?" my Dad said with his arms crossed.

"Doesn't look like it." I said normally.

My Dad then let out a sigh. "Ok, so where do we sleep?" he asked.

"Well, there's a guest room upstairs, but it only has one bed. Jess could sleep there." Twilight suggested.

"And what about us?" my mother asked.

"Well, I could use a spell to make a bed built for two appear. It'll have to go in the other room, there's more room in there." Twilight said before she walked over into the other room.

We all followed her and we watched as she closed her eyes and her horn glowed. With a large flash of light, a large bed built for two appeared on the other side of the room.

My mother and Dad's eyes widened with their mouths hanging. "How…did she…" my mother trailed off.

"Amazing, isn't she?" I asked with a large smirk, Twilight then walked out of the room.

"Ok, your room is ready." Twilight said with a smile.

My mother smiled back at her. "Well, umm…thanks, Twilight. You're good." She said; causing Twilight to blush slightly.

My mother then walked up to me. "I know you've had a hard day, Matt. But remember, we understand and we're not upset with you. Goodnight, Matt." she said sweetly before she kissed my forehead and walked into the other room.

My Dad then walked up to me. "Goodnight, Matt." he said with a proud smile as her rubbed my back. He then walking into the other room to join my mother and closed the door behind him.

"Well, I'm gonna head up to bed. See you all in the morning." Spike said as he made his way up the stairs with Jeff and Peewee following behind.

After a few minutes, Me, Twilight and Jess went up the stairs and showed Jess to the guest room. Jess looked around the room and saw the bed, she liked it.

"Goodnight, Jess." I said as I stared to shut the door.

Jess turned around to face me. "Wait, where're you sleeping?" she asked,

"With Twilight in her bed, why?" I asked curiously.

"You sleep with her?" Jess asked with a raised eye brow.

I knew what she thought and I rolled my eyes. "It's not what you think. Besides, she's my fiancée, it's not that surprising." I stated before I closed the door to leave Jess to settle in her room.

"Well, goodnight to you too." Jess joked to herself before she walked over to the bed and lied down on it to relax.

After that, Me and Twilight got into our bed. I looked over to Spike's basket to see he, Jeff and Peewee were already asleep under the covers.

I smiled at this before I laid my head on the pillow and pulled the covers over us, I then turned my head to face Twilight lying beside me, she gave me a sweet smile. "Goodnight, Matt. I love you…I love you so much."

"I love you too, Twi. And I always will, and nothing will ever change that." I said sweetly.

We then shared one last loving kiss before we broke it and closed our eyes. We then fell asleep in each other's warmth and love.

******Meanwhile: Mount Forbidden**

The leader alicorn sat on his throne looking down at Zelga and his last brother.

"So brother, you tell me the _location spell_ is the only way to find the location of the artefact?" the leader asked with a raised eye brow.

The other male alicorn bowed his head. "Yes brother, the forger we once intrusted it with had no information on who he gave it to. At this point, it could be anywhere in Equestria." He stated.

"And just...what were you doing asking the forge about it?" the leader asked with a small glare.

The alicorn became worried. "Well…you see, I was…errr…trying to get it back, of course. I know how important it is to our cause…how important it is to _you_. Haha, I was merely trying to serve you, my lord." He said as he bowed lower.

The alicorn then got off his throne and quickly shot right up to the alicorn's face in an instant; causing him to go wide-eyed with fright.

"If I wanted it back, I would have kept it instead of forcing other ponies to keep it hidden. You know exactly why I did that, because…I don't trust you with it. Ever make a move without my authorisation again, it'll be the last move you'll ever make…am I clear, _Rage_?" the leader said darkly.

The alicorn (now known as Rage) nodded his head. "Yes, my brother…crystal clear, even." He said nervously.

At that moment, Zelga stepped in. "To be honest, brother. Even though Rage's actions were…suspicious, he makes a valiant point on this matter. The artefact is the key that holds everything together, if we have any chance of finding it, maybe the spell…should be considered." She said.

The leader looked at her with a raised eye brow. "The spell requires a magic far greater than even Celestia's. I would do it myself, but my powers won't let me use the spell to find the artefact. It'll let me find anything else, but just not that. We need something else, and then we need someone to perform the spell. So…any of you two have any ideas?"

Zelga and Rage were silent. After a moment, Rage spoke. "I…have something in mind, though it's very risky…not to mention, difficult." He said; causing the leader to look back at him.

"Well, Rage. I'm sure we're all curious to find out what you have to suggest." He said in a dark voice.

Rage then leaned his head closer to the leaders and started whispering in his ear. After hearing his plan, Rage pulled his head back and the leader looked at him with dark look. "Are you curtain that will work, Rage?"

"I'm am, bother. You said we needed a power far beyond Celestia's, they have more power than she could ever have." Rage stated with a serious look.

The leader then growled slightly before he made his decision. "Very well, Rage. We shall make it our next operation." He stated, Rage then nodded.

"Perfect, everything is going just as I planned." Rage thought with an evil grin on his face.

The leader then turned his head to face Zelga. "Zelga, this operation will require…our secret weapon. You must tell…_him_...he is the only one capable to pull it off without us having to reveal ourselves." He said darkly.

"I will inform him at once, brother." Zelga said with a bow before she flapped her large feathered wings and flew out the mountain.

The leader then turned to face Rage. "…Well, don't you have work to do?" he snapped aggressively.

Rage then turned around and walked towards the cave, growling under his breath with his teeth grinding together; leaving the leader alicorn alone in the throne room.

The leader then turned around and flew back onto his throne before his horn glowed green, a large book on a stone table then lifted up and hovered towards him.

Once in front of him, he then used his magic to open it and flip through the pages before his found the page he wanted.

"…A power far beyond Celestia's, hmm?...haha, these will do." the leader said darkly to himself as he looked at the page that had a picture of all six of the Elements of Harmony on it.

**Hope you liked the chapter.**

**The song used in this chapter is called **_**I'm gonna love you **_**from the cartoon Disney movie **_**The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2. **_**I don't own anything.**

**I don't know if it matters to you that the song's sung by **_**Jennifer Love Hewitt**_**, but it's probably just nice to know.**

_**Note to guest**_**: To the guest who asked if I take OCs, I don't take OCs like the ones you described. The character you described resembles one of my future OCs too much; I'm not saying which one, I have many in mind. So sorry, and I hope you can forgive me.**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	34. Chapter 34: Family matter part 2

**I don't really know what to say here…I usually have something, but I can't think of anything…so…I don't know.**

**Well anyway, on with the chapter and I hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 34: Family matter (part 2)

**Morning: Ponyville library**

The sun light shun through the widows of the library as the night turned to day.

I was still asleep in the bed until I slowly blinked my eyes open, I then leaned up on the bed and rubbed my eyes with my hooves before I removed them and looked down at the empty space beside me.

Twilight wasn't in bed with me; I wondered where she was before I looked up at the clock hanging on the wall. It said the time was 11:56 AM; it was almost time for me to go to work.

"Crap, how long did I sleep for? I'm not gonna have time to have breakfast at this rate." I said to myself before I got out of the bed and walked down the stairs.

Once down stairs, I walked into the kitchen to find Twilight, Spike, Jeff, Peewee, and my family sitting by the table eating.

At first, I didn't recognise my family because of their pony forms. But after remembering yesterday's events, it all came back to me and I felt sheepish for forgetting.

Twilight was eating a daisy and daffodil sandwich, Spike was eating gem-stones, Jeff and Peewee were eating different fruits, and my family were also eating flower sandwiches; which surprised me a lot.

My mother then noticed me and she smiled. "Morning, sweet-heart." She greeted.

I smiled back. "Mornin'." I greeted back as I walked over to the table and sat down beside Twilight.

I smiled warmly at her. "Mornin', Twi." I greeted kindly.

"Morning, Matt." Twilight said before we shared a quick kiss, I then looked at my family to see the smirks on their faces. I knew they were smirking because they saw me kiss Twilight, but I didn't worry about that and focused on the plate of sliced apple that was placed on the table in front of me by Twilight.

Before eating, I looked at my mother eating her sandwich. "You do know there's flowers and grass in that, right?" I asked expecting her to freak over it.

She swallowed the food in her mouth and spoke. "Yeah, I do. Twilight offered us them this morning, and since we haven't eaten since we arrived, it was the best thing to do. At first, I thought it would taste horrible, but it's actually pretty good. It must be because we're ponies or something like that." She explained.

I smiled in delight. "Well, I'm glad you all like them." I said before I started eating my apple slices.

As I began to eat, my Dad spoke. "So, what should we do until you can call that Princess…what's-her-name, and ask her if she can send us back home to England?" he asked.

Twilight turned her head to face him. "You mean Princess Celestia, and I already sent a letter to her this morning. She said she's too busy to do anything right now, but she'll come to the library sometime this afternoon. Besides, Matt has to go to work." She explained.

Jess looked at her in surprise. "Wait, you mean we'll actually have to _see_ the Princess? I thought she'd just open that vortex thing from wherever she is." She said.

I turned my head to face her. "Don't worry, Jess! She's really nice. Besides, you'll be with us, I'm sure it'll be fine." I said with confidence.

Jess gave me an unsure look. "But Matt, we don't know how to act in front of royalty. The only connection we've ever had with royalty back home was when you got that letter from the Queen when you were little." She said.

"Just act natural and polite. Trust me, you'll like her." I said with an honest look.

Jess then nodded. "Alright, Matt." she said.

"So how long does your job take?" my mother asked curiously.

I turned my head to face her. "I should be done sometime later in the afternoon, it depends on how many deliveries I have to make. Don't worry, it doesn't take me long." I stated.

"Well, what should we do in the meantime?" my Dad asked.

"Maybe I could show you two around town, and Jess could go with Matt. If Matt is gonna stay, don't you think it's best if you knew the town better?" Twilight suggested with a hopeful smile.

"Well…I guess so, if it's alright with you if you." My mother said.

Twilight nodded. "Oh, it's no problem at all. You're Matt's parents and we want you to feel comfortable around us." she stated.

My mother smiled kindly at her. "Well thanks, Twilight. We'd like to look around your town; we didn't get a good look at it yesterday."

I was happy that they were accepting all this so well, I looked over to Jess. "So Jess, do you want to come to work with me? It's a good way to look around town." I said hoping she'd say yes.

Jess then shrugged. "Alright, yeah. I need to learn more about this place anyway." She said.

I smiled at her. "Cool, so after I'm done with work, we'll all come back here and wait for the Princess, deal?" I said to everyone, they all nodded.

"Good, now let's finish eating before I have to go." I said before we all continued eating our breakfast.

**Later that day: Ponyville streets**

After collecting my delivery cart from Applejack, I was now walking through the streets with Jess by my side and Jeff on my back.

Only, there was an extra twist this time. Applejack had come along with us to make the deliveries. "So…why did you want to come along again?" I asked with a confused look.

Applejack turned her head to face me. "Because I want to get to know ya sister a bit more. Plus, it's my supply cart and I'm ya boss. And if I want to make the deliveries with ya, I can." She said with a large smirk.

"Cheeky, isn't she? She's a lot like you." Jess said out loud; causing Applejack and Jeff to snicker.

I blushed slightly from embarrassment before I decided to try and change the subject. "Err…Jeff, where's our next delivery?" I asked.

Jeff flew off my back and into the supply cart; he pulled out a clip-board and looked at the paper on it. "Looks like the next ones at Fluttershy's cottage." he said.

I turned my head around to him. "Thanks, Jeff." I said before Jeff placed the clip board back in the cart and flew back onto my back.

Jess looked at me with a raised eye brow. "So, you work as a delivery…err…pony, with your pet talking parrot helping you?"

After hearing that, Jeff shot her a sharp glare. "I'm not a pet, I'm a civilised bird. Just because I live with ponies and I'm smaller than them, does that suddenly make me their pet?" he yelled; causing Jess to step away from him.

I looked at Jess. "Yeah, he's kinda touchy when someone calls him that." I mentioned.

"Really, I had no idea." Jess said sarcastically still eyeing the offended Jeff with wide eyes.

After a moment, Jess and Jeff calmed down. Applejack had started walking beside Jess and began talking to her. "So Jess, this place ya go to…University…what's it like?"

"Well it's like school, only you basically live in it. You get your own room and everything; my friends live right next door to my room, so I have lots of company." Jess explained.

"What about your family? If ya live at the school, does that mean ya don't see them anymore?" Applejack asked with a raised eye brow.

"Well, I do. But only once a month, I had to go back to Uni after Matt disappeared. I tried to convince them to let me stay and look for him, but Uni is a very important thing and they wouldn't let me." Jess explained.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Some ponies! When will they learn that things like family are more important than school stuff?"

Jess gave her a surprised look. "That's what I said. But did they listen? No."

As they kept on talking, Me and Jeff just kept walking with narrow eyes. "…You know they're gonna be talking like this for the next few hours, right?" I said.

"Yep, it's gonna be a long day." Jeff stated.

We both let out loud sighs as we kept walking towards Fluttershy's cottage with Jess and Applejack continuing to talk behind us.

**Meanwhile: Ponyville market**

After leaving Peewee in-charge of the library, Twilight and Spike were giving my parents a tour of the town. They had already taken them to see the Town Hall, Rarity's boutique, and Twilight's favourite quill and book store.

They were now entering the market and it was busy, as usual. Sales-ponies were behind their stalls while other ponies buying groceries and other items.

While my mother and Dad were looking around at one of the stalls, Twilight watched them a few feet behind them with a worried look on her face. Spike was standing beside her and noticed the look on her face before he spoke. "Hey, you ok?" he asked.

Twilight broke from her train of thought and looked down at Spike. "Huh?...oh sorry, Spike. I was just thinking about how I was gonna talk to Matt's parents." She explained.

"What's there to worry about? You spoke to them yesterday." Spike said.

"I know, I'm just scared that…they may not like me. You know, because Matt wants to stay because of me." Twilight explained before she looked back at my parents with another worried look.

"Well…maybe you should go over there and talk to them. If you think about it, it's really the only thing you can do." Spike said with an honest voice.

Twilight then gave Spike and uncertain look before she sighed. "You right, Spike. I'll talk to at least one of them when I can." She said.

Twilight and Spike then turned their attention back on my parents. At that moment, my Dad walked off to look at a different stall; leaving my mother alone at the previous stall.

Spike looked up at Twilight. "Well if you want to talk to Matt's mom, this is a better time than ever. It's ok, Twilight, she seems like a nice pony." He said in a comforting tone.

Twilight then gulped hard. "Well…here goes." She said to herself before she started to walk over to my mother.

Twilight then stood beside my mother as she looked down at the fruit on the stall. "So…how do you like the market?" Twilight asked trying to start a conversation.

My mother turned her head to face Twilight, she then smiled at her. "I like it, it's very peaceful here, I can see why Matt likes it here so much." She said.

Twilight's ears then lowered slightly. "Yeah, about that…I need to talk to you about something." she said with a small frown.

My mother gave her full attention. "What's wrong, Twilight?" she asked curiously.

Twilight hesitated to talk until she finally managed to do so. "I just want you to know that…I know how difficult this must be for you to let your son go like this."

My mother then let out a sigh. "Yeah, it's hard. But this is what he wants, he wants to stay here." she said.

"I know, and…I'll understand if you don't like me because of his choices." Twilight said while looking down at the ground with slight sadness.

My mother gave her a slightly shocked look. "Don't be daffed! Of course I like you, Twilight. Why wouldn't I?"

Twilight looked back up at her. "Because…Matt wants to stay because he loves this world _and_ me. If there's anyone you have to blame, it's me." she stated.

My mother gave her a sweet smile. "Twilight, why would I hate you for making Matt happy? We're not like those parents who hate whoever our children marry; we're glad Matt's finally found someone. Even if you're a pony, you're still a very nice and lovely girl."

Twilight started to grow more comfortable. "You really think so?" she asked.

My mother nodded. "To be honest, Twilight. I was hoping Matt would find a girl like you eventually, he was sort of depressed back home for some reason, I figured he was feeling lonely. I tried to convince him to go out and find someone, but he kept saying he didn't want to."

"Really, how come?" Twilight asked.

My mother shrugged. "He was very shy about those sort of things, how was he when he first asked you on a date?" she asked.

"…He was a little shy, he didn't have much trouble asking, but he was still kinda nervous." Twilight stated.

My mother then returned to what she was saying. "Anyway, the point is…you make Matt really happy, I've never seen him like this before. Now Matt and Jess say that the star they wished upon granted them their wishes, but it was you who granted mine. I wanted Matt to find someone special so he could be happier than he was before, and he found you."

A sweet smile then grew on Twilight's face as she heard what my mother was saying; my mother then placed her hoof on Twilight's shoulder. "I like you, Twilight. True, it's hard to believe Matt's going to live here from now on. But if he's happy, I'm happy too." She said kindly.

Twilight smiled warmly at this news. "I'm so glad you think so, and I also know how strange it must be to know your son's getting married."

My mother nodded. "Yeah, that was a bit of a shocker. But if you ask me, I've only known you since yesterday and I couldn't ask for anyone better than you to be my daughter-in-law." She said sweetly.

Twilight felt heart-warmed by what she just said, all her worries about my parents disliking her had now disappeared.

"And don't worry! My husband feels the same way." My mother stated.

Twilight nodded. "That's good to know… and thank you, I feel better now you've told me all that."

My mother smiled at her. Just then, my Dad came back over and noticed them together. "What're you two talking about?" he asked curiously.

Twilight and my mother looked over to him. "Nothing, sir. I was just making sure of something." Twilight stated with a small smile.

My Dad continued to wonder what they were talking about while he was gone, but he decided to drop it and change the subject. "Alright then, so Twilight, do you think you can take us to see that farm where Matt works?" he asked politely.

Twilight nodded. "Sure, follow me!" she said before she walked passed my Dad and walked towards the streets of town. My mother and Dad then started to follow her.

**Meanwhile: Fluttershy's cottage**

After arriving at Fluttershy's cottage, I gave Fluttershy her bag of fruit and vegetables that she ordered and she took them inside her house.

While Me and Applejack were standing in front of the doorway waiting for Fluttershy to come back with my pay, Jess was looking at Fluttershy's different animals in her garden.

Jess watched as bunnies and squirrels gathered around her, different types of birds were singing on a near-by tree, Jess loved it.

"Aww, these animals are so cute. The surprising thing is they're not afraid, it's as if they know it's safe to be around me." Jess said as she gently stroked a bunny's head with her hoof.

I looked over to her and smiled in amusement. "Yeah, Fluttershy's a natural when it comes to animals. Just watch out for the seal! He's gets excited when he sees a new face." I said.

Jess gave me a confused look. "Seal? I don't see a se-UNF." She couldn't finish her sentence as a black seal jumped onto her back; it then clapped its flippers while barking.

Me and Jeff (who was on my back) burst out laughing as Jess struggled to keep herself standing with the seal on her back. "Haha, hey Jess, I think you made a new friend." I said before laughing again.

"Shut up, you! Get this thing off me!" Jess yelled as her body began to lower to the ground with the weight.

At that moment, Fluttershy came back to the doorway with a small bag of money in her mouth. She then noticed the state Jess was in and gasped; dropping the bag on the floor.

Fluttershy then flew over to Jess and the seal, she then crossed her arms and gave the seal a firm look while hovering in the air.

"Now, Mr Seal. That's not how we say hello; it's very impolite to jump on new ponies. Now get off her and say you're sorry!" Fluttershy said firmly.

The seal then climbed off Jess's back and made a quiet bark before it waddled away.

Jess was glad to be relieved from the weight of the seal; Fluttershy landed next to her and helped her to stand up straight. "He says he's sorry." Fluttershy stated with a sheepish smile.

Jess turned her head to face Fluttershy. "Thanks…you're names Fluttershy, right?"

Fluttershy looked down at the ground and rubbed her hoof softly around in circles in the dirt. "Oh yes, I am. Sorry we didn't get to talk much yesterday, but I could see you had more important things to do, what-with Matt and all." She said in her shy voice.

Jess gave her a small smile. "Hey, don't worry about it! Here, let's start with our names. Hi, I'm Jess." She said as she held her hoof out to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked nervously down at her hoof before she slowly grabbed it with her own. "I-I'm Fluttershy." She said quietly as they shook hooves.

They then released each other's hooves. "You've got a lot of animals here, is it hard taking care of them all." Jess said.

Fluttershy shook her head. "Oh no, it's not hard at all, I love taking care of all my animal friends. They all mean the world to me, especially my pet bunny, Angel."

"Angel?" Jess said with a confused look.

Just then, Fluttershy's pet bunny Angel, hopped up to Jess and Fluttershy and they looked down at him. He crossed his arms and patted his foot on the ground with an impatient look; he then rubbed his stomach with a sickly look.

"That's so wired; it actually looks as though he's trying to tell you something." Jess said while looking down at the preforming bunny.

Fluttershy turned her head to face her. "He is, he's trying to say he's hungry. I'd better feed him, can we talk more later?" she asked.

Jess gave her an unsure look. "I don't know, if that Princess of yours can re-open the portal, I'll be going home. I don't really know if we'll see each other again after that."

Fluttershy then frowned slightly. "Oh…ok." She said quietly.

Jess then placed her hoof on her back. "Hey, it's ok. We said we'd visit sometimes, maybe we can spend time together then." She said sweetly.

Fluttershy then gave her a kind smile. "Ok, I'd like that." She said.

I then walked up them, Jeff was holding the small bag of money in his wings. Fluttershy then came up to me with a thankful smile. "Thanks for the fruit and vegetables, Matt. I just know the animals are gonna love them."

"No problem, Fluttershy." I said smiling at her.

Just then, Fluttershy felt something tug down on her tail. She turned her head around and looked down at the tip of her tail to see Angel pulling it; he then stopped and looked up at her with an impatient look.

I then noticed him. "What's up with him?" I asked with a raised eye brow.

Fluttershy turned her head back around to face me. "That's his way of telling me he's hungry, I'd better go back to the house and feed him." She explained.

"Ok, Fluttershy. I'll see you later then." I said before Applejack walked up behind me while pulling my delivery cart behind her.

Applejack then unattached the cart from her back and re-attached it to mine.

"Goodbye, Matt. I'll see you later." Fluttershy said before she grabbed Angel in her arms and flew back towards her cottage.

Once she went back inside and closed the door, we all began to walk back towards town. I then turned my head to face Jess. "So, how do you like Fluttershy?" I asked.

Jess looked at me. "She's…nice, I just find it strange how she can take care of all those animals by herself." She said.

"Well, that's her special talent, to take special care of all animals no matter how big or small. Sometimes she can tame really dangerous creatures, like a Manticore." I explained.

Jess gave me a confused look. "A Manti-what?"

"Not important right now. What is important is that we get back on task, I still have a few more deliveries to make." I stated before I walked on ahead towards town.

Jess watched as I walked away from her, she then looked at Applejack with a raised eye brow.

Applejack narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, he gets like that about his work." She stated before she started to follow me.

Jess watched as we both walked back to town. "This place has really changed Matt. Back home, all he'd ever do was sit around playing his video games or go on the lap-top. But here, it's like he's a whole new person." She thought.

Jess then shrugged. "Well, at least he's not so grumpy anymore." She said to herself before she galloped after us to catch up.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle**

Princess Luna was sitting on her throne; she was using her magic to make the small scroll float in front of her, the same scroll that Zelga had given her a while ago.

She had already read it 34 times already. She continued to read it over and over again, trying to find a positive reason to make the potion.

The more she thought about it, the more her heart grew heavy with worry.

"I don't know what to do. If I make the potion and use on Matthew, I'll get to experience a romantic connection with him for an hour. But if anyone were to find out I did it, it could possibly cost me my friendship with Matthew and Twilight Sparkle. Not to mention, my sister would be most disappointed and ashamed….oh, this is giving me a headache all over again." Luna said out-loud to herself as she held her hoof against her forehead in frustration.

Luna then removed her hoof and returned her attention to the scroll floating in front of her.

She then gave it a different thought. "Am I really that desperate to know what it's like? Would I really risk our friendship for my own selfish desires?...maybe…maybe I should just accept that Matthew doesn't-" Luna was cut off by one of her guards entering the throne room.

The guard walked up to Luna and bowed before looking up at her. "Your highness, your sister is here and requests to see you." he stated.

Luna was surprised by this news. "Send her in!" she ordered. The guard nodded before he walked back out of the throne room.

"I wonder why my sister came to me, she usually requests for me to come to her." Luna thought.

After a few minutes, Princess Celestia walked into the throne room and up to her little sister. Luna smiled warmly down at her before she placed the scroll on her thrones arm and walked down the small stairs to reach Celestia.

Once together, they both embraced each other with a loving hug. "Sister, it's been so long since I last saw you. I haven't seen you since the Gala." Celestia said.

"I know, my sister. I've just had a lot on my mind lately." Luna claimed.

The two sisters then separated from their hug and smiled at each other. "So why did you come here? You usually send a letter asking me to come to you." Luna said.

"I know, Luna. But I didn't want to trouble you, so I came myself." Celestia stated with a smile.

Luna then raised her eye brow. "So, nothing is wrong? You just came here to visit me?"

"Well…that wasn't the only reason I came to you." Celestia said.

Luna gave her a wondering look, Celestia then sat down in front of her. "You see, Matthew's family has come to Equestria."

Luna went wide-eyed at this news, she also became worried. "Matthew's family? B-But they are from another world, correct? That is the one thing you told me about Matthew's past. A-Are they here to take him back? Is he leaving Equestria?" she asked growing more worried by the second.

Celestia raised her hoof. "Calm down, my sister! Matthew's family has chosen to let him stay in this world with Twilight, but they wish to return to their home. Which is why I need your help."

Luna was relieved by this news, but was confused by why she needed her. "Me? Why do you require my help?"

"I've found a way to re-open the portal that brought them here, but it'll require both our strengths to make it work. Also, to give them a way that allows them to come back whenever they wish." Celestia explained.

Luna wasn't sure at first, but she couldn't refuse to something like this. "I understand, sister. We will return to Canterlot at once and help Matthew's family." She said.

Celestia smiled proudly down at her. "I'm so glad to hear you say that, my sister."

Luna smiled up at her warmly before Celestia got up and walked towards the throne rooms exit, Luna was about to follow her before she looked back at the scroll on the thrones arm.

"…I'll sort it out later." Luna said under her breath before she followed her sister out of the throne room.

**Later that afternoon: Ponyville library**

After finally finishing my work, I returned to the library with Jess and Jeff. Applejack had gone back to Sweet Apple Arches with her empty delivery cart.

Twilight and Spike had finished giving my parents the tour of the town and was also back at the library.

We were all now in the kitchen talking about our day. "So, how do you guys like the town?" I asked.

"It's really good, we saw the farm where you work, the market, the Town Hall, and the Day Spa. I'd like to go in there sometimes and see what it's like." My mother said.

Once Jess heard what she said, she looked at me. "You have a Day Spa here?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, that's Rarity's favourite spot in town. I go there all the time to go in the hot-tub." I said.

Jess's eyes widened with surprise. "They have a hot-tub? Oh, I'm definitely going there when I get the chance." She stated.

"I'll take you some other time. Right now, we have to focus on helping you guys home." I said.

"So when's this Princess of yours going to show up anyway?" my Dad asked.

I was starting to wonder that myself. "It should be any minute now, she said this afternoon, right?" I asked looking at Twilight, she just shrugged.

Just then, we saw a flash of light come from the living room and we got up to see what it was.

Me, Twilight, and my family walked into the living room and my family's eyes widened with awe at the sight of Princess Celestia and Luna standing in the middle of the room.

Me and Twilight bowed our heads, I looked over to my family to see they were just standing there with blank expressions on their faces. They then snapped out of it and looked at me. "Bow down!" I whispered.

My family then got the idea and bowed their heads.

We then raised our heads back up, I then walked up to Celestia before I turned around to face my family. "Guys, this is Princess Celestia. She's the ruler of Equestria and Twilight's teacher." I said.

Celestia looked down at me. "Thank you for the introduction, Matthew." She said with a small smile.

Celestia then looked at my family and smiled down at them. "It is very good to finally meet all of you, I've been wondering if you'd all ever come here." she said.

My family were silent, until Jess broke it. "Tall, isn't she?" she said looking up at Celestia's length.

I then became worried that she may have offended Celestia and I looked up at her. "Sorry, she's never met royalty before." I said.

Celestia looked down at me. "It's quite already; I get that reaction a lot in my travels." She stated.

Just then, I noticed Luna standing beside her. Not only was I surprised, I was nervous because I wasn't sure if she still felt upset with me about what happened between us a while back.

"Luna? What're you doing here?" I asked nervously.

"My sister requested for me to accompany here to meet your family, she needs me to help her open to portal to send them home." Luna explained.

Jess stepped forward. "Wait, you mean you can actually open the thing again?" she asked.

Celestia looked at her and nodded. "Yes, I've found a spell which will allow Luna and I to temporarily open the portal that will send you back to your world." She explained.

"Temporarily? You mean…if we go back, we can't come back?" My mother asked with worry rising in her body.

Celestia shook her head. "Not necessarily, there is a way for you to return to Equestria when you wish. However, nothing like this has ever happened before. If we do this, you all must swear to follow the rules I will place upon you." she said in a serious voice.

My family looked at each other before they looked back up at her and nodded in agreement.

With that, Celestia's horn glowed and there was a small flash of light. When the light cleared, there was a small round golden amulet floating in front of Celestia, it had a small white crystal in the middle of it.

We all stared at it with wonder. "What's that for?" Jess asked.

"This amulet will allow whoever wears it to open the portal whenever they choose. For now, it's powerless, but Luna will summon the power of the star and place it into the amulet. The power of world travel…in one little necklace." Celestia explained.

"That's the part I don't get, how's it possible that we all got here just by wishing on an ordinary star?" Jess asked.

Luna then stepped forward. "I believe I can explain that. I have studied my stars for many years; they are a mysterious and powerful magic. Not to mention, unpredictable. Many of us wish upon them for our own desires to come true, but they do not answer to wishes of greed."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously.

"The stars only answer to wishes of pure heart. When you and your sister wished upon one of them, they were wishes from your hearts." Luna explained.

Celestia then looked down at me. "She's right. You felt lonely back in your world; you spent many days hoping to find true friends and love. When you wished to come here, the star sensed all your feelings and decided to grant your wish." She explained.

I was surprised by this news; Twilight had a look on her face that told me she found all this fascinating.

Celestia then looked at Jess. "And you wished upon that star to find your brother, the star sensed your sadness and also granted your wish." She explained.

"So…that's how all this happened? How we were brought here?" I asked.

Celestia looked at me and nodded. "Yes, it is. Only by wishing with your heart did your wishes come true, the stars will never grant a wish of greed or selfishness."

"But my wish was selfish, I wished to come here to have the perfect life." I stated with my ears slightly low.

"Maybe, but your wish also helped grant another. If your wish helps another's come true, the star sees it as a selfless act." Celestia explained with a smile growing on her face.

I began to wonder who she was talking about. "Really, who?" I asked.

Celestia then gently placed her hoof on my cheek before she slowly turned my head around to face Twilight, I was surprised by this. "…Twilight? My wish helped her?" I said.

"Yes, she wished to find the perfect colt. Her wish would help you find love, so the star saw her wish as a selfless act too." Celestia explained.

"…But in the end…we made our wishes come true on our own. The stars only brought us together, the rest we did ourselves." Twilight said with a warm smile on her face.

"Precisely. In a way, you both granted each other's wishes." Celestia stated with a smile.

I didn't know what to think, I walked up to Twilight and we smiled lovingly at each other. She was more than right. I use to think that star granted my wish, when it was really Twilight who made it come true.

The moment was then broke by my Dad. "So anyway, you were saying something about some rules." He said.

Celestia then looked back at him. "Oh yes…(clears throat)…if I am to intrust you with this sort of power, there are rules that must be followed. Rule one; _never let anyone in your world know that ours exists_! For if someone with selfish desires were to come here, it could mean disaster for us."

I then looked at my family and nodded. "She's right, the last thing we need is guys in suits putting everypony in cages for study."

My mother nodded. "We understand, we won't tell anyone about you. But what about members of our family, can they know?" she asked.

"Only if they can be trusted to follow these rules." Celestia said with a raised eye brow.

My mother nodded before Celestia continued. "Rule two, _keep the amulet safe and hidden_! We wouldn't want it to get lost or fall in the wrong hooves…or hands. Because without this amulet, there's no hope of you to returning to Equestria."

My family nodded to tell her they understood.

"And finally, rule three. _When in this world, keep the amulet with you at all times_! We don't want any of the ponies here to use it and get themselves lost in your world, especially the ones who are up to no-good." Celestia said.

"What do you mean _up to no-good_?" my Dad asked.

"Let's just say, there are ponies and creatures out there that aren't so friendly." Celestia stated.

My family then looked at each other before they looked back up to Celestia and nodded.

Once Celestia knew they understood everything, she nodded back. "Very well then, we shall allow you to have access to this power." Celestia said.

Celestia then turned her head to face Luna before she nodded down at her, Luna nodded back before she closed her eyes and her horn glowed.

While Luna's horn continued to glow, there was a bright light shining through the window. Just then, a ball of light seeped through the window and floated towards Luna.

We all stared at it with wide-eyes as it hovered in mid-air. "What's that?" Twilight whispered.

"The power of a star, this will be placed into the crystal on the amulet. With it, you will have the ability to open the portal and go home." Celestia explained.

With the amulet still floating in the air, the ball of light hovered towards it and it touched the small white crystal on the amulet. Then there was a large flash of light; causing us to shield our eyes with our arms.

Once the light faded, we removed our arms to see the ball of light was gone but the amulet was glowing white.

"It is done." Luna stated.

Celestia walked over beside Luna and smiled down at her. "Thank you, Luna. And well done." She said with a proud smile, Luna smiled warmly up at her.

Celestia's horn glowed and the amulet hovered towards my family, Jess then grabbed it with her hoof and watched as the small white crystal glowed. "So…now what?" she asked.

"Well, we can open the portal and send you home. Or you can stay a little longer, it's your choice." Celestia stated.

They looked up at her before my mother looked over to me. "Matt…we'd love to stay a little longer, but we have responsibilities back home. Jess has Uni, and you Dad and I have work. You understand, don't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I get ya. Just remember that you can visit any time you want to! Twilight and I will always welcome you." I said.

My mother walked up to me and smiled warmly at me. "I know." She said before we shared a hug.

My mother then broke the hug and my Dad walked over to us. "Matt…even though we're far away, remember that we all love you very much! And behave yourself, alright?"

I nodded. "I will." I said before we hugged too.

After we separated, my Dad smirked at me. "And don't go doing anything naughty with Twilight." He whispered, only it was loud enough for Twilight to hear.

I blushed brightly. "Daaaad." I whispered loudly while Twilight giggled with her hoof over her mouth.

My Dad chuckled. "Oh, I'm just messing with ya." He said.

Then finally, Jess came up to me and hugged tightly. "We're gonna miss you, you know that?" she said.

I hugged back. "I know, I'll miss you too." I said.

After hugging for a few seconds, we broke the hug. Jess put the amulet around her neck before she and my parents turned around to face the two Princesses. "Alright, we're ready." My Dad stated.

Celestia nodded. "Very well."

With that, Celestia and Luna turned around to face a clear wall before their horns glowed brightly, both their horns then shot out a beam and it hit the wall.

As the beams continued to shoot out their horns, they began to cross until they formed one whole beam of yellow and blue. As it continued to shoot against the wall, the portal began to spread open. Once the beams stopped, the portal was completely open and there was a loud blowing wind noise.

Celestia turned around to face us. "The portal is open; it will send you back to your home. It won't last long though, so you have to go in fast." She yelled over the loud blowing noise.

My mother then quickly turned to me and hugged me. "We love you, sweet-heart." She said.

I hugged her back. "I love you too, Mum." I said.

No one had time to take turns, so my Dad and Jess joined our hug and we were now sharing another family hug.

We all then broke it before my family turned to face the portal on the wall, Celestia and Luan stepped aside to let them pass.

My family then slowly walked up to the portal, they all looked back at me and I gave them a small wave. They smiled warmly as they waved back. "We'll see each other again, we promise." My Dad yelled over the loud noise.

"I know." I yelled back.

With that, my family turned to face the portal again before they each took a deep breath and jumped into it. Once inside, they shot off into the deep centre of the portal until they couldn't be seen anymore.

The portal then began to close; it shrunk down until it became a tiny dot on the wall and disappeared; leaving the wall looking normal as if it didn't happen.

The room was silent; all I could hear was my own breathing as I thought about what happened to them. I looked over to Celestia. "Are you…are you sure it sent them back?" I asked.

Celestia gave me a calm smile. "Would you like to find out?" she asked.

I wondered what she meant by that, I nodded. "Then take my hoof!" she said as she held her hoof out to me.

I then walked up to her and took her hoof in mine, Celestia's horn then glowed and we both disappeared in a flash of light.

**Meanwhile: England/my house**

The back garden of my house was quiet; the only sound there was were the birds singing and the chickens clucking in their pen.

Suddenly, the portal opened in mid-air above the grass and my family flew out of it.

They each hit the grass covered ground with a hard thud. "Ahh…if we're gonna do that often, we need to work on the landing!" Jess groaned on the ground.

They all then got up off the ground and looked at themselves to see they weren't ponies anymore; they were back in their human forms. "Hey, we're human again." Jess said.

"Thank god, it's hard work walking on four legs." My Dad stated as he rubbed his head.

Jess then felt something dangle against her chest; she looked down to see she was still wearing the amulet. She grabbed it in her hand and held it up to look at it better.

"I promise I'll keep it safe, and we'll never let anyone else know." Jess said under her breath.

Jess then looked at our mother and Dad, they all then watched as the portal closed.

They all took a moment to think about what just happened, they had just travelled to another world, another universe, and I was still there. But knowing where I was and who I was with, they knew it I would be alright.

And they knew it wasn't goodbye forever, they had the amulet and they could use it to re-open the portal and come back any time they wanted.

After finally feeling comfortable with it all, they all looked behind them to see our house. They all then walked towards it to get inside.

Once inside, Jess went upstairs to her room and grabbed a small box with a lock on it. She opened it and placed the amulet inside, she then closed the box and locked it with a small key.

For safe keeping, she placed the box and its key in one of her drawers which no one opens often. She then closed the drawer and took another moment to think about what's happened.

Just then, our mother came to the doorway of her room. She saw Jess on her knees looking down at the drawer she had placed the box in. "Hey…it'll be alright, we'll see him again." she said softly.

Jess turned her head around to face her. "I know…it's just…it'll be so different without him." She said trying to keep a smile up.

Our mother smiled in amusement. "We said the same thing about you when you first left to go to Uni." She stated.

Jess let out a small chuckle at that, she then got up off her knees and walked up to our mother. "…I'm gonna miss him." She said.

Our mother then wrapped her arms around Jess and hugged her. "I know, we'll miss him too. But he's with Twilight now, he's happy. And besides, we can always go back, right?"

Jess hugged back and nodded her head on our mother's shoulder.

Our mother gently patted her back before they separated. "Come on, I'll make us some dinner." She said before she turned around and walked towards the stairs.

Jess took one last look at the drawer that she put the box in. "Your secret's safe with us, I'll make sure of that." Jess said under her breath before she began to follow our mother back down stairs.

**Meanwhile: Equestria/Celestia's bedroom**

Celestia had taken me to her bedroom. In it, she had a large round mirror hanging on the wall, but it wasn't any ordinary mirror.

This mirror had the power to see things that are happening in other places, even things happening in other worlds. Celestia and I had been standing in front of it watching my family's every move since they got back home. With this, I knew they made it back safely.

However, I never knew living apart from my family could be so painful. True, I would've had to move out and get my own home eventually. But I didn't expect it to happen so fast.

I stood there with a small amount of tears in my eyes; Celestia looked down at me with a concerned look. "I know it hurts, but you will see them again, Matthew." She said sweetly.

I used my arm to wipe the tears away. "I-I know…its ok, I'm alright now." I said trying to be strong.

Celestia's horn glowed and a tissue appeared in a flash of light, she then used her magic to hover it in front of me. I took it in my hoof and wiped the rest of my tears away before I blew my nose into it.

I looked up at Celestia with a thankful smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Celestia said with a smile before she threw the used tissue in a bin.

After pulling myself together, I let out a small sigh before I looked back up to Celestia. "Well, I'd better get back home to Twilight. I…I really need a rest, it's been a hard day." I said.

Celestia gave me an understanding smile. "Of course." She said before her horn glowed.

I then disappeared in a flash of light; leaving Celestia alone in her room.

**Ponyville Library**

With a flash of light, I then reappeared inside the library and I felt dizzy. "Whow…I should really work on getting use to that." I said to myself as I wobbled left and right slightly.

After shaking off my dizzy state, I looked around and saw Twilight sitting in the kitchen with Spike, Jeff and Peewee. She noticed me before she got up and walked up to me.

"So did they make it back?" Twilight asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, they're fine." I said.

"Good, are you ok? I know how hard this must be for you, do you want to talk?" Twilight asked with a concerned voice.

I shook my head. "No thanks, Twi. All I want right now is to have a minute to relax." I said calmly.

Twilight nodded. "Ok, Matt. You go have a lie down! I'll check up on you later." She said.

I gave her a small smile before I walked towards the stair, I then walked up to our bed and I crawled up on top it before I laid my head on the pillow. I didn't bother getting under the covers; I just lied there looking up at the ceiling trying to relax my body.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle**

After returning to her castle, Luna was now in her throne room pacing back and forth in deep thought.

"This was too close, what if Matthew was ordered to return to his world by his parents? I would have never seen him again, then I would never know what it's like to have the colt of my dreams love me. Even if I decided to use the potion, it would have been too late." Luna said to herself.

Luna then looked at her throne to see the scroll was still on the arm of the throne, Luna's horn glowed before the scroll lifted off the arm and hovered towards her.

Once in front of her, she used her magic to unroll the scroll and read it again. After a few minutes, Luna finally made her ultimate choice.

"Today was too much of a risk; I cannot allow it to happen again. I must know what it's like, I _need _to know what it's like. I…I love Matthew, I…I just want to know what it would be like if he loved me in return." Luna said out-loud to herself.

Luna felt strongly about her choice, even though a wave of guilt repeatedly flowed across her body. She hung her head with her ears down.

But she thought that this would help her move on, all she wanted was one hour with the colt she loved and then she'd give it all up like it never happened. If she had any chance at freedom from her own feelings, it had to be done.

**That night: Ponyville library**

At last, it was finally time to end the day and get some peaceful sleep.

Spike, Jeff and Peewee were already in their basket fast asleep.

I was also already in bed under the covers, Twilight had just come up the stairs and crawled into bed with me. Twilight looked at me and saw how I was just looking up at the ceiling; she wondered if I had even noticed her beside me.

Twilight then waved her hoof in front of my eyes and I jumped as I snapped out of my train of thought; slightly startling Twilight.

I turned my head to face her. "Oh sorry, Twi. I was miles away." I said.

"Still worried about your family?" Twilight asked.

I turned my attention back up at the ceiling. "Not as much as I was before, but…you know how it is." I said.

"Yeah…but hey, it'll be alright. We'll see them again; they said they'd visit a few times. We'll invite them to our wedding, that way they'll be here to see us get married." Twilight said with a sweet smile.

I turned my head to face her again and I smiled at her. "Yeah, we'll do that. I just wish they would've stayed a bit longer." I said quietly.

"I know you do, I wish they did too" Twilight said softly before she planted a small kiss on my cheek. "But just try and get some sleep! You've had a hard day; you might feel better in the morning." She said.

I nodded. "Ok Twi." I said before I laid my head on the pillow, Twilight then did the same.

"Goodnight, Twi. I love you." I said before I closed my eyes and relaxed.

"Goodnight, Matt. I love you too." I heard Twilight say.

We both then drifted off to sleep, knowing that somewhere out there, my family would be going to sleep in their own beds thinking the same thing about us.

This is a new thing in all our lives, both my birth family and my pony family have been brought together and have accepted each other into their lives in friendship and harmony.

In other words…_Two worlds, one family_.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Note to **_**Gianmarco: **_**I know you're not the one who sends those insulting reviews, but can you please stop whoever it is! You said it was your younger brother, right? He's doing it to insult the show, right? I'm not upset by it and it's no big deal, but I don't like what he sends, so please tell him to stop!**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	35. Chapter 35: Don't stick it to the pony

**Hey everypony. **

**I know what some of you are thinking, **_**Matt's a brave guy and he isn't scared of anything. Hell, he even took on a murderous, blood-thirsty alicorn and saved Canterlot. At this point, it seems he isn't scared of anything. Does he have at least one flaw? **_

**Well, he will now. Because I am scared of something, something that I shouldn't be scared of anymore, but I am. And this chapter is gonna be about my fear. **

**To explain a little better, one of my readers once asked if Matt had any flaws like some of the main 6 do. I took that into consideration and came up with something.**

**So anyway, on with the chapter and enjoy!**

Chapter 35: Don't stick it to the pony

It's been two days since my family returned to the human world. It's been hard, but I've finally gotten over it and things are back to normal.

But I did make one mistake on the night they went back, I forgot to tell Princess Celestia about my recent nightmares. It must have been because of all the commotion with my family.

Once I realised that I forgot, I felt so stupid. However, I haven't had a nightmare for the last few days, so they may have stopped and now there was no need to inform the Princess about them.

**Ponyville streets**

It was a chilly day today; the pegasi were flying in the sky covering the bright blue sky with dark clouds; meaning it was going to rain soon. I would be up there helping them, but I had to do my delivery job for Applejack.

Also, the sun was going down. Soon, the sky would be dark and filled with rain clouds. There wouldn't even be stars or moonlight to brighten the way for those who worked late.

Unfortunately for me, I was still in the streets making my deliveries. Jeff was with me, he wasn't comfortable with stormy weather, he says it's terrible weather for flying and that he nearly crashed once in a storm.

"Whow…look at that sky! Have I ever told you how much I hated rain storms?" Jeff said as he stared up at the dark clouds.

I turned my head around to face him. "Yeah, you have. But we shouldn't focus on the sky right now, we should keep our focus on the job so we can get home before the storm actually begins." I said.

Jeff then looked at me and nodded. "You're right, dude. Anything to get the hay out of here, I'm not dealin' with this stuff again." he stated.

Jeff then flew off my back and into the cart; he reached into it and pulled out the clip-board.

"Ok…the next delivery is at-AHH." He yelled as a big force of wind blew in our faces; forcing us to close our eyes tightly.

Once the wind stopped, Jeff looked over to me. "Dude, this thing's gettin' worse by the minute. Maybe we should leave it, return Applejack's cart, and go home." He yelled over the wind.

I shook my head. "We can't do that, Jeff. Applejack will have both our asses if we do, we have to finish the job." I yelled back.

Jeff gave me a small glare. "I don't care if Applejack will have my beak, I'm not stayin' out here waitin' to be struck by lightnin' or somethin' like that." He stated with his wings crossed.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, you go home. Just tell me where I need to go next!" I said.

Jeff then looked back at the clip-board and read it. "The next place is Town Hall, can I go now?" He asked.

I let out a loud sigh. "Yes, you can go." I said as I pointed in the direction to the library.

"Jeff, out." Jeff yelled before he shot off in the air towards the library. I don't think I've ever seen him fly so fast, he must really not like rain storms.

Suddenly, I heard the clouds thunder above me and I began to get back to work. The sooner I got it done, the sooner I could go home. I forced myself to walk through the powerful wind as I headed towards the Town Hall.

**That night: Library**

Today had to be the longest working day I've had since I came here, I had so many deliveries to make that by the time I was finished, it was night time.

And to make things worse, it was now raining heavily all over town. I galloped as fast as I could towards the library. The freezing cold rain showered over my body, not to mention the cold wind blowing harder every minute.

But finally, I reached the library and burst through the front door to enter the warmth. I then slammed the door behind me to not allow any rain or cold wind to come inside.

I stood there panting, trying to catch my breath. My hooves were muddy, my coat was soaked, and my mane was flat and dripping like crazy. I felt so cold, I was starting to shiver.

I didn't want to move, I was worried that I'd feel a cold breeze if I did. I just wanted to stand there and wait until I got warm.

Just then, Twilight came into the room. "Matt, where've you been? This storm is really bad, I was getting wor-(GASP)" she gasped loudly at the sight of my soaked, messy state.

Twilight quickly galloped up to me with a worried look on her face. "Matt, are you ok? What happened to you?" She said.

"I-I-I'm…f-fine, T-Twilight." I said as I continued to shiver on the spot.

Twilight then placed her hoof on my cheek and felt how cold it was, it was freezing. Twilight then pulled her hoof away. "Matt, you're freezing. We have to get you warm, I'm giving you a nice hot shower." She stated.

"I-I-I'm fine…T-Twilight…r-really." I said still shivering.

Twilight then gave me a firm look. "No exceptions, Matt. You're having a shower to get you warm and to clean all that mud off your hooves." She said.

With that, her horn glowed and I felt myself lift off the ground and hovered me towards the bathroom, Twilight followed me as she kept her spell going.

Once in the bathroom, Twilight placed me down on the floor before she walked over to the shower. She used her magic to turn the water on and kept sticking her hoof under the falling water to check the temperature.

Once it was warm enough, Twilight looked over to me with a sweet smile. "Ok, Matt. it's nice and hot now, go on in."

I still shivered as I walked over to her, I then stepped into the shower and got under the water.

I took deep breaths through my nostrils as I felt the coldness melt off my body with the warm water, the mud on my hooves began the wash away and run down the drain along with the water.

Then something unexpected happened, Twilight stepped into the shower with me and used her magic to start scrubbing the rain and mud off my back with a sponge.

I couldn't help but blush at this, Twilight was in the shower with me. I shuttered as I felt the sponge rub slowly up and down my back. "How does that feel, Matt?" I heard her ask.

"…Amazing." I said as I closed my eyes closed, I sat down to enjoy the feeling. It truly was amazing, the feeling of the hot water warming my frozen body, and the felling of the girl I loved scrubbing my back.

At one point, Twilight held the sponge up against the shower hose so it could absorb more water. Once she saw the sponge was full of hot water, she hovered it over my head and used her magic to twist it; releasing the collected warm water over my head, it felt so good.

I then saw the sponge hover beside me and I grabbed it with my hoof before I turned around to face Twilight, she looked so beautiful with her mane all flat and wet. "My turn." I said softly.

Twilight giggled before she turned her back to me and sat down, I then started to scrub her by rubbing the sponge around in circles on her back.

My face burned as I blushed deeply, I couldn't believe I was actually doing this with Twilight. I did the same as she did and collected water in the sponge before I released it above her head.

After I had scrubbed Twilight for a few minutes, she turned around to face me and we looked into each other's eyes. As I looked at the loving smile on her face, I couldn't help but lean forward to her and we shared a deep kiss.

We continued to kiss as the shower water continued to rain down on us, we then broke the kiss before I wrapped my arms around her and held her close to me as we felt each other's love.

And hour later, after drying off from the shower, I was now lying in front of the fireplace with a towel wrapped around me as I watched the flames.

Unfortunately, I found out that I had returned to the library too late and I had caught a cold. My nose was slightly blocked and I was sniffing a lot.

Twilight then walked into the room with a towel over her body, she was using her magic to hovering two mugs of coffee beside her. One of the mugs was velvet and the other was green.

Once Twilight reached me, she lied down beside me and hovered the green mug over to me. I looked at it and sniffed my nose again; I then grabbed it with my hoof and looked inside at the steaming light-brown liquid inside it.

I didn't normally drink coffee, but seeing the sweet look on Twilight's face made me want to try it for her, I smiled back before I looked back down at my mug.

I took a deep breath before I took a sip of it, the coffee felt warm and flavourful. I wasn't so fond of the warmth, but the flavour tasted nice.

After I swallowed the coffee, I smiled warmly at Twilight. "Thanks, Twi." I said.

Twilight smiled warmly back. Just then, I sneezed loudly and sniffed my nose again. Twilight gave me a look of pity before she nudged up next to me so we'd share our body heat.

We smiled as we looked at each other lovingly. "…I love you, Matt." Twilight said.

"I love you too, Twi." I responded before I leaned forward to kiss her, only for her to stop me by placing her hoof on my lips.

"Err…Matt, your cold…." Twilight said trying to explain.

Twilight then removed her hoof and I knew what she was saying; she was worried that I would give her a cold too. "Oh yeah, sorry. I forgot." I said before I chuckled slightly.

Even though I understood completely, I was kinda disappointed that I wouldn't be able to kiss her until my cold went away. But my disappointment was lifted by Twilight kissing my cheek.

We then smiled sweetly at each other again before Twilight laid her head on my shoulder.

We both lied there enjoying the warmth of the fire and the comfort we shared, the only sound that could be heard was the fire crackling and the sniffing noises I was making.

**The next morning**

The sun rose in Ponyville, I slowly opened my eyes to see I was in my bed.

As I leaned up on the bed, I felt a pounding pain in my forehead and I held my hoof against it. I tried to sniff my nose only to feel it was slightly more blocked inside, I could barely breathe in through one of my nostrils.

Just then, I felt a tickling feeling in my nose and I sneezed loudly. I was so dizzy and I felt as though I was going to puke.

I managed to climb out of bed before I slowly walked towards the stairs. Once I reached them, I started to walk down them. However, I sneezed once again and I nearly fell down the stairs.

Once down stairs, I walked into the kitchen to see Twilight, Spike, Jeff and Peewee eating their breakfast. "T…T-Twilight…" I said weakly.

Twilight then turned her head to face me before she gasped loudly, I was surprised by her sudden gasp. "Twi…w-what's wro-…ooooh." I groaned as I felt the ponding pain in my forehead again.

Twilight then rushed up to me with a worried look. "Matt…you look terrible, are you feeling ok?"

I wondered what she meant by that. "W-What do you mean _I look terrible_?" I asked weakly.

Twilight's horn glowed before a hand mirror appeared in a flash of light, she then held it in front of me and I was shocked at what I saw.

My face was slightly pale, I had black around my eyes which were slightly blood-shot, my nose was red, and my mane was ruffled. "Oooh…shit, I do look terrible." I said.

With a flash of light, the mirror disappeared and Twilight placed her hoof on my forehead, she then pulled it away. "Oh no, you're burning up. You're cold must've gone worse over-night."

I was figured the same thing, I felt really terrible. But I didn't want her to worry so much about me, I wanted to be strong for her and try to fight it. My ears lowered as I felt my throat sting. "I-It's alright, Twi. Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

Twilight raised her eye brow. "You're most certainly _not_ fine, you can barely stand. You cold's gone worse, I think you need to see a doctor." She said.

I wanted to reject and tell her not to worry, but another pounding pain in my forehead convinced me that she was right, as usual.

"O-Ok, Twilight…we'll go after breakfa-…brea-…(AH-TUE)." I sneezed loudly while covering my mouth with my hooves, sneezing that hard made my head spin.

I placed my hooves back on the floor and Twilight gave me a concerned look.

"We're not going after anything, we're going right now!" she said in a serious voice before she helped me walk towards the front door.

As I walked towards the door while sniffling my nose, Twilight looked back at Spike, Jeff and Peewee. "Can you guys watch the library while we're gone?" she asked.

Spike nodded. "Sure, Twilight. We can do that." He said.

"Thanks, guys. We'll be back later." Twilight stated before she and I walked out the library and closed the door behind us, we both then set off towards the hospital.

**Later: Ponyville hospital**

After arriving at the hospital, Twilight and I were waiting in the waiting-room for the doctor to call us in.

I kept wishing he'd call us in already, my cold felt as though it was getting worse by the minute. The headache I had wasn't coming and going anymore, it was now staying and making me suffer.

I kept sniffing and sneezing, which wasn't helping me or Twilight feel better about it at all. In fact, I think Twilight grew more concerned with how worse I was getting.

As we waited, the rest of the main 6 quickly entered the waiting-room and rushed up to us. "We came as soon as we heard." Applejack stated with a worried look on her face.

Twilight gave her a wondering look. "How'd you all know we were here?" she asked.

"We went over to your place and you weren't in, then Spike told us that you brought Matt here because he was sick." Rainbow Dash explained as she hovered in mid-air.

Twilight looked up at her. "He is, I'm so worried about him. I mean, just look at him!" she said before she turned her head to look at me sitting beside her.

They all then looked at the state I was in, they all then gave me concerned looks. Fluttershy came up to me. "Oh, you poor thing." she said sweetly as she stroked my mane.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie shot up beside her and looked right at my pale face. "Ooh, how's his face turning a different colour like that? Is he must be part-chameleon? That would explain why his coat's green all the time." She said with a smile.

They all looked at her with awkward looks before they looked back at me. "Sweetie, you look dreadful." Rarity stated.

Applejack nodded while looking at me. "She's right, you're not lookin' so good there, sugar cube. And I can't help but feel it's my fault you're in this mess."

Rarity looked at her with a raised eye brow. "How come it's your fault? What happened to him?" she asked.

Applejack turned her head to face her. "Matt was out in the storm yesterday doin' his work. If I had only known that storm was comin', I would've given him the day off and this wouldn't have happened." She explained.

Rainbow Dash then flew up to her. "No, it's kinda more my fault. I knew that storm was scheduled to happen, I should've told you before it started." She said with slight sorrow.

After hearing all this, I raised my hoof. "It's no one's fault, I don't blame anyone. Anyway, it's more my own fault. Jeff wanted to go home, but I chose to stay out there and finish the job. Jeff went home and kept wor-…wor-…(AH-TUE)" I sneezed again with my hooves over my mouth.

"Don't talk, Matt. Try and keep your strength." Twilight said as she wrapped her arm around me and pulled me closer to her for comfort, everyone sat down in front of us and waited for the doctor to come.

Just then, the doctor Unicorn pony walked in the room though the double-doors, he then used his magic to hover a clip-board in front of him and looked at it. "Alright…Mr Matthew, you're next." He announced.

With that, Twilight and I got up and walked towards him with the rest of the main 6 following behind.

Once the doctor noticed us, he turned around and walked out the double-doors with all of us following behind.

He took us to his medical room and I was sitting on the edge of a medical bed, Twilight was sat on the floor in front of the bed.

"It's been a while since I last saw you, Mr Matthew. But I must say, I was hoping to see you again under _different_ circumstances than this." The doctor said as he came over to me with a stethoscope around his neck.

I then sniffed my nose loudly again. "Yeah, me too. So can you help me?" I asked.

"Well, I'll certainly try. First, I need to check your heart rate." The doctor stated before his horn glowed and the chest-piece of his stethoscope hovered up and placed itself against my chest, it felt cold.

The doctor used his magic to place the ear-pieces in his ears and listened carefully.

"Ah-huh…ah-huh…hmm…alright, I believe I've figured out the problem." The doctor stated as he took the chest-piece away and the ear-pieces out his ear.

"You seem to have caught a bad fever. If you feel cold, that'll be the illness getting worse. Speaking roughly, I'd say it'll get worse though out the day." The doctor explained as he walked over to his drawers and started searching through them.

Twilight gave me a worried look before she looked back at the doctor. "You can cure him, right?" she asked.

The doctor waved his hoof as he continued to search through his drawers. "Of course I can, we just need to insert the medicine into him." He explained.

I raised my eye brow. "And how are you gonna do that? Do I drink it, or something?" I asked, I didn't get an answer.

"Ah, here it is." The doctor said as he used his magic to pull out an empty medium sized syringe with a short needle on it.

Once I saw it, my eyes widened as I felt fear shoot up along my body. If there was any ounce of green left on my face, it was now gone as my face went completely pale with fright. My heart raced as I thought of what the doctor was planning to do. "…That's a big needle." I said in a high-pitched voice.

The doctor walked over to a table which had a lot of medicine vials on it, he dipped the needle into one and sucked up the medicine until the syringe was full. "Don't worry, Mr Matthew! This won't hurt a bit." he said.

"Says him, I remember when I first had one of these when I was little, it was horrible. And don't get me started on the blood tests I use to have when I was ill! Sure, I had numbing cream to make my arm numb before they'd stick it in me, but I don't have any here. Oh crap, this is gonna hurt." I thought as my breathing grew heavier and heavier.

Twilight then walked up to the doctor and looked at the syringe in wonder. "So what will this do the help Matt? I'm kinda curious." She said.

The doctor gave her a small smile before he started explaining it to her. I then looked at the others to see they weren't looking at me; they were all focusing on what the doctor was saying. At that moment, I grew a devious and tricky idea.

"No way am I gonna sit here and let this guy stick that thing in me. Maybe if I'm real quiet, I can sneak out of here without them seeing me." I thought.

I then slowly and quietly slid off the bed and crept towards the door, I had to stop a few times because I thought one of my friends was gonna turn around. But eventually, I made it to the door and slipped out the room. I then galloped down the hall towards the exit.

"But anyway, we should get this over with. Alright, Mr Matthew, just relax and this will be over in no ti-" the doctor didn't finish his sentence as he noticed my absence.

Twilight and the others turned around and saw I was missing. "Err…where'd he go?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna find out." Twilight said with a firm look in her eyes.

**An hour later: clouds above Ponyville **

Above the streets of Ponyville, I was hiding up on top of a small cloud.

I kept thinking to myself how I could have done that, how I just ran away because of a needle. "I can't believe I just did that, I'm such a coward, running away from a simple little needle." I said to myself as I lied on my stomach on the cloud.

I then thought of the pain I would've experienced if I did stay. I wasn't sure if it would hurt or not, but I wasn't willing to take risks, not after remembering my past injections.

"On second thought, I'd rather be sick then purposely stabbed any day. I've had colds in the past, and they went away easily. This one is no different to the re-(COUGH, COUGH)" I couldn't finish my sentence as I coughed loudly.

I could tell this was what the doctor was talking about when he said the cold would grow worse through the day. By now, my green coat was completely white and the brown in my mane & tail had become dim, my eyes had also become more blood shot.

But I didn't care, I was willing to put up with anything to stay the hell away from that needle.

"MATT!" an angry female voice yelled from below me.

I peeked down from the cloud to see Twilight and the rest of the main 6 all looking up at me with angry looks. "Matt, you get down here right now!" Twilight yelled up to me.

I curled myself up on the cloud, hoping they'd think I wasn't there and go away. "Matthew, we know you're up there. We can see your tail dangling off the edge of the cloud." I heard Rarity say.

I looked back at my tail to see she was right, I then pulled in my tail and pretended I wasn't there. However, Twilight and the others saw me pull my tail in.

"I take it he's not going to make this easy." Rarity stated with narrow eyes.

"I'll get him down." Twilight said before her horn glowed.

Suddenly, the cloud beneath me turned completely black before it started to rain. As rain fell down from the cloud, I felt myself sink within the cloud and I struggled to stay on it.

After a second, I sunk through the cloud and fell down to the ground yelling loudly with my eyes closed. Just before I could hit the ground, I felt something stop.

I then opened my eyes to see I was being held upside down in Twilight's magic, my face was right in front of hers as she gave me a firm look.

I smiled nervously. "Haha…hey, sweetie." I said.

"Don't _hey, sweetie_ me! I want to know why you ran off like that when we were about to give you your medicine." Twilight said in a firm voice.

I didn't blame her for being angry, I acted like a total wimp back there. But I couldn't tell them I was afraid of needles, they'd never stop laughing if I did. I thought as I was still held upside down.

"Well?" Twilight said, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Ok, I'll tell you. Can you at least put me down first?" I asked.

Twilight then flipped me back around before she placed me gently on the ground on my hooves. "Now what happened back there?" Twilight asked still giving me a firm look.

I quickly thought about what I was going to tell her. "Well…you see…I needed to go to the bathroom…I couldn't go through something like that with a full bladder." I lied.

"What do you mean by _something like that_?" Twilight asked with a raised eye brow.

Just then, Pinkie Pie cutted in. "Yeah, and you could've used the bathroom there, you know." She said.

"Well…I..err…" I said trying to think of something to say.

Before I could, Rainbow Dash flew up to my face with a suspecting look. "And if you were going to the bathroom, how is it you ended up on that cloud?" she said looking me dead in the eyes.

I backed away from her as I began to sweat from nervousness. "Well, I was…I…I can't tell you." I said with my head hanging slightly.

"Tell us what? Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?" Rainbow Dash asked, Twilight and the rest of the main 6 all eyed me as they waited for an answer.

"Look, I just can't. You'd all probably think I'm some sort of wimp if I di-(COUGH, COUGH, COUGH)" I coughed loudly again; causing me to kneel to the ground.

Twilight's firm look turned into a concerned one as she rushed up to me and helped me back up. "Matt, you're getting worse. We have to get you back to the hospital and give you that shot." She said slightly calmer.

Once I heard that, my eyes shot open and I flew up in the air. "No way, I'm not going back there. That doctor ain't poking me with anything." I stated before I shot off away from them; surprising them all.

"AFTER'IM!" Applejack yelled before they all galloped after me, Rainbow Dash flew off like a bullet to try and catch me.

I flapped as hard as I could to get away, but Twilight and the others were surprisingly catching up with me. I tried to flap harder with all the strength I had left.

As they galloped through the streets, Twilight and the others had determined looks on their faces. Applejack then looked ahead and noticed something.

She saw a lasso hanging from a hook on the side of one of the houses; she then gained an idea and grinned. As Applejack galloped past the lasso, she grabbed it with her mouth and turned her attention back up to me.

Applejack then galloped ahead of the others before she started twirling the lasso around above her head.

Once she was close enough and gained a good shot, she tossed the lasso up towards me and it wrapped around my waist.

I felt it tighten around my waist and I let out a loud gagging noise. I turned my head around and looked down to see the other end of the lasso was being held in Applejack's mouth. I then turned my head back around and continued flying through the streets.

Suddenly, Applejack stopped galloping and tugged back hard on the lasso; forcing me to come to a sudden stop. I gagged loudly as I felt the tight rope pull back against my waist.

"We got'cha now." Applejack muffled with her teeth holding the rope tight, she then started to pull me down to her.

I felt myself being pulled back towards the ground, but I couldn't give up now. I started to flap my wings hard again and the rope between me and Applejack straightened tightly.

Applejack togged back harder as I tried to keep flying, I eventually felt myself start to slowly move in the air. Applejack tried to fight it, but she was started to get dragged along the ground; causing soil to gather in front of her front hooves.

Eventually, Applejack was starting to lift off the ground, but she wouldn't let go of the rope.

I then finally managed to shoot off through the air and Applejack flew off the ground. I was now pulling Applejack behind me through the air.

Applejack's eyes were forced to squint as the wind blew hard in her face, she rocked left and right as she kept hold of the rope.

Meanwhile, Twilight and the others were still galloping behind. Twilight looked up in shock at the sight of Applejack being pulled behind me through the air.

"Why is Matt acting like this? He was fine this morning. Whatever it is, it has to be something to do with the hospital; he's really determined to stay away from there." Twilight thought as she kept galloping.

As I kept flying as fast as I could, I looked behind me to see that Applejack was still holding onto the rope for dear life and determination with her eyes shut tight.

I had to give her credit, it was impressive how she could hold on for this long, I can't even hold on to Rainbow Dash for this long without crashing or giving up. Applejack was one pretty strong pony.

I then turned my attention back to where I was flying; I then saw something up ahead.

It was a female Earth pony walking across the street while pulling a cart filled with hay along behind her. I then looked back at Applejack before I grinned as I thought of an idea, I then shot off towards the hay filled cart with Applejack flying behind.

I then shot passed the cart right above the hay pile; gaining the attention of the Earth pony.

Applejack managed to open one of her eyes and saw the hay pile coming up in front of her, her eyes shot open in shock before she safely crashed inside it; causing her to let go of the rope.

As I kept flying, I turned my head around to look back at the hay stack she was now stuck in. "Sorry." I yelled before I turned my head back around and focused on my flying.

The Earth pony noticed Applejack crash in her hay pile. "HEY!" she said loudly with annoyance.

Applejack's head then popped out from the tip of the hay pile, she had hay in her mouth and hay sticking out from under her hat.

Applejack then spat out the hay in her mouth. "Yeah…lots of hay." She responded with her eyes in a daze.

The Earth pony just rolled her eyes, Applejack then shook off her daze to see Twilight and the others gallop up to her. "Applejack, are you alright?" Fluttershy asked with concern.

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She answered before she turned her head around to see me flying away fast. "Woow…he really doesn't wanna go back to that hospital." She stated.

"I don't know what's at the hospital that's got him so spooked, but it must be something serious if he doesn't want to go back. But we need to catch him and take him back, or else his cold's just gonna get worse." Twilight said.

Rainbow Dash then took off into the air. "I'll get him." She stated before she shot off after me.

Twilight and the others then went around the cart before galloping off after her, Applejack jumped out of the hay pile before she followed them; leaving the Earth pony with a confused look. "What…just happened?" she asked herself.

Meanwhile, I was still flying as fast as I could around Ponyville. I looked behind me to see Twilight and the others were far behind, I exhaled it relief.

"Sorry, guys. But the last thing I'm gonna do is let that doctor stick a needle in m-AHH." I yelled as something tackled me from above.

I managed to turn my head around to see it was Rainbow Dash who had tackled me, she was trying to wrap her arms around me, but I fought back and tried to throw her off.

"Matt…this…has gone on long enough, why won't…ah…you tell us why you won't go back to the hospital?" Rainbow Dash said as we both struggled against each other.

"Because I CAN'T." I yelled.

We made many twists and turns as we wrestled through the air around town, there were times were we nearly crashed into houses but luckily avoided them.

All the ponies in town watched us with wide-eyes as we shot over their heads, Twilight and the rest of the main 6 tried their best not to lose us.

As we continued this dangerous act, we didn't notice the Town Hall coming up ahead.

We tossed and turned in the air before Rainbow Dash pushed her hoof against my cheek to try and keep my head away while she attempted to grab hold of me.

With my left eyes covered by her hoof, I could only see through my right eye. It then shot wider once I saw the Town Hall coming up ahead fast.

"R-Rainbow!" I yelled, Rainbow Dash then looked ahead and went wide-eyed with shock as it look like we were gonna crash into the building.

Rainbow Dash acted fast, she pushed me away and we both caught a different wind; allowing us to fly around the Town Hall and miss it all together.

Once I was around the Town Hall, I looked around to see that Rainbow Dash had suddenly vanished. I looked all around for her but I couldn't see her anywhere. "This isn't right, I can't have lost her that easily." I said to myself.

As I began to think I was in the clear, Rainbow Dash suddenly shot down from nowhere onto my back and covered my eyes with her front hooves. I couldn't see a thing, I started to fly uncontrollably.

"Rainbow Dash, get off! I can't see." I yelled as I started flying in different directions like crazy, but she didn't listen and kept her hooves over my eyes. I decided it was best for me to slow down slightly, but we were still going rather fast.

However, I was slow enough for Twilight and the others to finally catch up. They saw what Rainbow Dash was doing and watched as I swirled in the air with her on my back.

"Ok, I'm tired of this now. Time to put a stop to this once and for all." Rainbow Dash thought as she grew tired of all this fuss.

She then spread out her wings and tried to take control of our flight pattern, but my wing movement mixed with hers caused us to start moving around uncontrollably.

As my vision was darkened, I felt myself bobbing up and down and leaning left and right in the air. I had no idea where I was going or why I couldn't control my flying.

It got to the point where Rainbow Dash and I started wobbling until we finally lost control and was forced to split apart as we fell out the sky.

Twilight and the others gasped loudly as they saw us fall.

And to make things even worse, Rainbow Dash and I crash landed in a mud filled ditch.

Due to the recent heavy rain, the mud we had crashed in was wet and sloppy. Also, it had made the mud very cold.

As I sat up out of the sloppiness, I felt the cold mud against my body and I wrapped my arms around myself as I began to shiver. I then felt my nose tickle before I let out another loud sneeze, I was colder than ever.

Behind me, Rainbow Dash got up from the mud with a dazed look. "Ha…got ya now, you…you…" she didn't finish her sentence as she fell back down into the mud.

At that moment, Twilight and the others rushed up to the ledge of the ditch and looked down at us. "Matt, are you ok?" Twilight asked in concern.

I looked up to her. "Y-Yeah…(sniff)…I-I think so…" I said weakly.

Twilight then exhaled. "That's good to hear….because you're in big trouble." She said in a sudden firm voice.

My ears lowered and I looked down at the mess I was in, my coat was stained with mud. "I know." I said quietly.

Twilight's horn then glowed before Rainbow Dash and I lifted out of the ditch and was placed down in front of her, I continued to hold myself as I shivered like crazy.

Rainbow Dash then woke back up and sat up, she groaned as she rubbed her head with her hoof. "Did…did we get him?" she asked.

Rarity walked up to her, but kept a safe distance to stay away from the mud on Rainbow's coat. "Yes, we did. Now we can get some answers straight from the pony's mouth." She said as she looked over to me.

"Yeah, let's start with why ya ran out of the hospital!" Applejack said as she gave me a sharp look in the eye, I felt so small in her gaze.

"I already told you, I can't tell you why I left the ho-…ho-…(AH-TUE, AH-TUE, COUGH, COOOOOUGH)" I coughed louder than ever, it hurt my chest so much that I was forced to my knees and hold myself up with my front hooves.

Twilight's firm look changed into a look of pure worry, she had never seen me cough or sneeze that loudly since I grew sick. She rushed to my side and helped me back up.

"Matt, please. You're getting sicker by the minute; I can't stand to see you in this state any longer. Please…please tell us what's wrong! We just want to help you." Twilight said.

I looked in her eyes to see how upset and worried she was about this, seeing it made me want to hold her as tight as I could and tell her how sorry I was for putting her through all this. I looked around to see the rest of my friends had the same look.

As I sniffed my nose once last time before I let out a small sigh. "I don't want to go back because…because…I'm afraid." I admitted with my ears low.

Twilight and the others looked at each other in confusion; they then looked back to me. "Afraid? You're afraid of the hospital?" Pinkie Pie asked with a surprised tone.

I looked at her. "No, I'm not afraid of the hospital." I stated.

"The doctor?" Fluttershy asked.

I turned my head to face her. "No, not him either." I stated.

"The magazines you read while in the waiting room?...because if so, I wouldn't blame you. I myself find them rather…gloomy." Rarity said.

I turned my head to face her. "As much as I agree with you on that, I'm not scared of the magazines. I'm scared of…OF NEEDLES." I yelled in despair before I hid my face in my hooves.

Twilight and the others were silent; they all looked at each other before they looked back at me. "Needles? As in, the injection the doctor was gonna give you?" Twilight asked in a calm voice.

I kept my hooves over my face as I nodded slightly.

They were all silent before Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. "HAHAHA, is that it? That's the reason you ran away? HAHAHA, you big chicken, HAHAHA." She laughed loudly, this didn't make me feel any better about myself.

Rainbow Dash was then forced to stop laughing by Applejack grabbing her tail and tugging her back down onto the ground. Applejack then gave her a firm look before she walked over to me.

Applejack sat beside me before she placed her hoof on my back. "Matt, how could you be scared as somethin' as simple and small as a needle? It's just a tiny prick." She stated.

I then removed my hooves and looked at her. "Maybe to you, but I've had past experiences with needles. I had blood tests where they stick a needle in your arm and suck out some of your blood, do you know how uncomfortable that feels?" I asked.

"But this isn't a blood test, this is a small shot which will cure your cold which by the way, is getting more worse the more we wait here." Rarity said with narrow eyes.

"She's right, Matt. The more time we waste, the sicker you'll become. You really need to come back and have that shot." Twilight said.

"I…I just don't like the idea of having a needle stuck into me on purpose." I said as I looked down at the ground.

"Come on, Mattie! You're the guy who took on Thorn and saved the day, you knew he was gonna hurt you at some point, you didn't seem scared then." Pinkie Pie said.

I looked at her. "Those were risks, I didn't see them coming and I tried to prevent him from hurting me. With something like a needle, you have to sit there knowing they're gonna stick it in you." I explained.

"Matt, look at me." I heard Twilight say.

I then turned my head to face her and look into her beautiful eyes. "I know you're afraid to get hurt, but if you don't stand up to your fear, your cold's gonna get worse and you'll feel more pain then any needle can make." she said with an honest voice.

She was right, I was gonna get worse if I didn't go back. But remembering the feeling of the needle in my arm sent shivers up my spine. "I…I don't know, Twilight." I said.

"I promise you…it won't hurt as much as you think it will, you just have to trust me." Twilight said before she placed her hoof on mine. "…Don't you trust me?" she asked.

I looked into her eyes, I saw the sadness and the worry deep inside them. I felt like such a coward for everything I had done today, I acted like such a school colt. I was ashamed of myself, and there was only one way to redeem myself.

"I…I do trust you, Twilight…I'll go back, I'll go back for you." I said.

Twilight then gave me a sweet smile before she slowly wrapped her arms around me and hugged me; not caring if mud was getting on her gorgeous clean coat. "I'll help you through it, we'll beat it together." I heard her say.

I then hugged her tighter as the rest of the main 6 watched us with warm smiles.

**Later: Ponyville hospital **

After getting myself cleaned up, we returning to the hospital and I was now once again sitting on the bed in the doctor's medical room. Only this time, Twilight was sitting next to me on the bed.

I breathed heavily as I watched the doctor stick the needle tip into the vial of medication, I then felt a hoof touch mine. I turned my head to see Twilight with an honest look. "It'll be ok." She whispered.

I smiled warmly at her before I took a deep breath.

"Alright, let's try this again, shall we?" the doctor said as he walked up to me with the full syringe hovering beside him.

I looked at it with a slightly frightened look before I closed my eyes tight and stuck my arm out to the doctor. "Alright, nice and easy." I heard the doctor say as he gently took my arm with his hoof.

I tensed us as I waited to feel the needle poke through my skin, I closed my eyes tighter as I whimpered silently.

"Ok, all done, Mr Matthew." I heard the doctor say, my eyes shot wide open in surprise and shock. I looked at my arm to see a small dap of blood seeping out of it.

"Wait…that's it?" I asked the doctor as he walked across the room.

The doctor then returned to me. "That's it." he repeated before he placed a small band-aid over the small dot on my arms.

"See, you barely felt it." Twilight said with a pleased smile.

I blushed from embarrassment, the moment felt so awkward as I thought about all the trouble I caused to avoid nothing but a harmless poke.

"Well…I feel like a total idiot right now." I said out loud.

Twilight giggled before she jumped off the bed and walked towards the door. "Come on, you big green lump. Let's go home, we should've been back hours ago." She said.

I then looked at the doctor. "Emm…thanks, I guess." I said as I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof.

He smiled. "You're welcome. And don't worry! You're cold should be cured by tomorrow afternoon." He stated.

I nodded. "Ok, thanks again. bye." I said before I jumped off the bed and followed Twilight out the door to leave the hospital and go home.

**The next day: Library**

It was late in the afternoon and the doctor was right, my cold had gone completely.

My coat was light green again, my mane and tail were fully brown again, and my eyes weren't blood shot anymore. It felt good to be my own colour again.

Twilight was glad I was better, I could tell she was really worried about me when I was ill. Which of course, made me feel worse about running away and making things worse for both of us.

But with Twilight's help, I was able to overcome my fears and I was now back to my old self. I told Twilight this and she pointed out that I may have learned a lesson about friendship.

Once I realised she was right, I asked Spike to take a letter.

Me and Spike were now sitting in the kitchen, Spike was holding a quill and scroll as he waited for me to tell him what to write. I cleared my throat before I began.

"_Dear, Princess Celestia._

_I've recently learned that ponies have strong fears that they may do almost anything to avoid, even the bravest of ponies can be afraid of the smallest of things. But with your friends by your side, they can help you learn how to conquer your fears and master them. And you should never be afraid to admit your fears to your friends, because if they don't know, they can't help._

_Your friend, Matthew."_

Once I was finished, Spike rolled up the scroll before he breathed his green fire on it. It turned into a small cloud of smoke before it flew out the window and shot up towards Canterlot.

Once the letter was sent, Twilight came into the kitchen and came up beside me. "Did you write the letter for the Princess?" she asked with a smile.

I turned my head to face her and nodded. "Yeah…and…I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused yesterday, Twilight. I was…acting like a total coward. I don't know why the Element of Bravery chose me, how can I represent the Element if I'm scared of a little needle? I don't think I deserve it, Twi." I said with my ears low.

Twilight then wrapped her arm around me. "Oh, Matt. Of course you deserve it. It's ok to be afraid of something, everyone has to a fear of something, even you. You're brave against so many other things, like the night you risked your own life to stop Thorn. Times like that are what make you worthy of representing the Element, you don't have to brave against every little thing. You may have wings, but you're no chicken." She said kindly.

I smiled warmly at her for what she said. "So you forgive me?" I asked.

Twilight then hugged me warmly. "Of course I do, I'm just so happy you're not sick anymore." She said.

I wrapped my arms around her and hugged back. "Thanks, Twi…I love you." I said.

"I love you too, Matt." Twilight said as we continued hugging, Spike smiled warmly at the sight of us.

After a few minutes, we broke the hug and Twilight smirked at me. "But seriously, I didn't think of you as one to be scared of needles."

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, kinda silly now that I think about it." I said as I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof.

Twilight giggled. "Yeah, sort of funny too. I mean…the brave Matthew, fearless in the face of danger, yet petrified in the face of a tiny needle."

I chuckled. "Hey, that does sound a little funny." I said, Twilight and I then started laughing harder at the thought of it.

Just then, something caught Twilight's eye which made her look down at the floor with fright. I noticed this before I turned around and looked down at what she was staring at.

It was a small door mouse scurrying across the kitchen floor, it looked up at us and let out a small squeak.

"AHHH, MOUSE! MOUSE! MOUSE!" Twilight screamed as she backed away quickly.

I looked at her with a raised eye brow. "Twilight, it's just a tiny mouse, Fluttershy has loads of them." I stated.

"I don't care, get rid of it! MAKE IT GO AWAY! AHH." Twilight screamed loudly as she galloped out of the kitchen, I heard her hooves clop against the stairs as she ran upstairs. I then heard a door slam shut, she must've gone in the guest room.

I looked back down at the mouse to see it scurry towards a broom stick leaning against the wall, the top of the broom was leaning against a window.

The mouse climb up a broom until it reached the window sill and scratched its tiny paws against the glass, I walked over to it before I pushed the window open. The mouse then jumped out the window and scurried off towards town.

Me and Spike could still hear Twilight's hooves as they clopped stomped against the guest room floor.

I thought about how awkward this was, I was afraid of needles, and now it turns out Twilight was afraid of mice. I looked at Spike with a large smirk. "Twilight never fails to amuse me." I said.

Spike chuckled. "I know, right." he answered with a smirk.

With a smirk still on my face, I walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. I walked up the guest room door and knocked on it. "Twilight, the mouse is gone, you can come out now." I said through the door.

The door the slowly opened and Twilight stuck her head out. "Are you sure?" she asked with fright in her eyes.

I gave her an honest smile. "I'm sure, come on out." I said.

Twilight then opened the door completely and walked out the guest room, she looked down at the floor and blushed from embarrassment. "Well that was…kinda awkward, wasn't it?" she asked with a sheepish smile.

I chuckled before I smiled at her. "Yep, but just remember all that stuff you said to me. It's normal to be afraid." I said.

Twilight let out a small sigh. "You're right, now I know how you felt when you saw that needle. You're worst fears can really get to you, huh?" she said.

I cocked my head. "Twilight, needles are my _old_ worst fear. I have a new one now." I said.

"Really, what is it?" Twilight asked curiously.

I then took Twilight's hoof in mine and smiled sweetly at her. "…Losing you…and our friends." I said.

Twilight then gave me a sweet smile before she leaped onto me and wrapped her arms around me, I was surprised by this before I smiled warmly again and hugged her back.

After a few minutes, we broke the hug and smiled lovingly at each other. "Wanna cuddle for a while?" I asked.

Twilight giggled. "I'd like that." She answered.

Me and Twilight then walked over to our bed before we climbed up onto it, we both then lied down on it before we wrapped our arms around each other.

Twilight then rested her head on my chest and closed her eyes as I gently stroked her soft mane with my hoof.

I managed to kiss her forehead before I rested my head on the pillow behind me and closed my eyes. We both relaxed as we lied there and enjoyed each other's cuddle.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**BTW, I don't really act like this when I have to have an injection. That was written just for fun and to add more thrill to it. True, I'm frightened of them, but I don't run away.**

**I really hope this chapter hasn't made you look at this Matt differently than you normally do, because it wasn't supposed to.**

**P.S. Just to let the rest of you MLP fans know, the complete first season of the show is now out on DVD exclusively on . I've already ordered one.**

**Please remember to review!**

**The next chapter will be up soon, merry Christmas to you all :D **


	36. Chapter 36: Secret of my Excess

**Hey everypony, I'm back once again.**

**This chapter is based in the episode **_**Secret of my Excess**_**,**__**I've added and changed some things. I do not own this episode.**

**You know what's funny about this? This is my 36****th**** chapter, and this is the 36****th**** episode in the series. What a coincidence.**

**Warning: Long chapter.**

Chapter 36: Secret of my Excess

It's been 4 days since my incident with the needle and I was feeling much better now.

And to make things better, it was nearly Spike's birthday. Once Twilight told me about this, I was really surprised. However, I was also pretty worried because I had no idea what to get him for a present. I needed to think, and think fast.

I decided to go to Canterlot with Jeff and ask the Diamond Dogs to help me dig up some very special gem stones for Spike, we went back to their old mine and they managed to dig up a whole collection of _Yellow Sparkle Rubies_.

According to Twilight's book on gemstones, Yellow Sparkle Rubies were one of the rarest, most valuable gems in Equestria, not to mention one of the most nutritious and healthy snacks towards dragons like Spike.

I knew he'd love to eat these as his birthday dinner, these would be perfect as my present to him next week.

**Ponyville library**

With the Diamond Dogs heading back up to Canterlot, I was now walking up to the front door of the library with both my saddle-bags filled with Yellow Sparkle Rubies, Jeff on my back.

"Now I'll have to be very careful to make sure Spike doesn't see these, it'll ruin the surprise if he does. I'll go in, sneak up the stairs, and hide them in a place he'll never look." I said out loud as I approached the door.

"Yeah, and say your present's from both of us. I…kinda don't have anythin', and I don't have any money to get somethin'…so, think you can lend a parrot a hoof?" Jeff asked before a large smile came on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, the rubies can be from both of us." I said.

"Thanks, dude. This party for Spike is gonna be awesome." Jeff cheered loudly.

Once I reached the front door of the library, I opened it and I saw that the front room floor was covered with books, it looked as though every book that were once on the shelves was now on the floor.

I looked at the mess with wide eyes, I then saw Twilight using her magic to place the books back up on the shelves. She turned around and noticed me.

"Oh good, you're home. Now you can help me organize these books." Twilight said before she continued to stack books on the shelves.

"I'll be in the kitchen." Jeff said before he flew off my back and into the kitchen.

I then walked towards Twilight. "What happen here? Did Discord make our books come to life again?" I asked as I walked up behind Twilight.

Twilight then turned around again to face me. "No, I just had a little mishap with the books." She explained.

I smirked at her with a raised eye brow. "Let me guess, _re-shelving day_?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, these books get so mixed up after they're used." She said, Twilight then noticed my full saddle-bags. "What's in your bags?" she asked curiously.

I turned my head around to face my bags before I looked back at Twilight, I then lean my head closer to hers. "Don't tell Spike, but these bags are filled with my present for his birthday." I whispered.

"Really, what is it?" Twilight asked in a whisper.

I then used my left wing to open the saddle-bag on my left side; revealing the many Yellow Sparkle Rubies inside. "I read in one of the books that dragons love eating these kind of gems, I figured the best gift could be something he'd enjoy eating." I said.

Twilight gave me a giggly smile. "That's very thoughtful of you, Matt. But I think he beat you to that idea." She said as she pointed her hoof to something behind me.

I turned my head around to see Spike standing across the room eyeing a large red ruby in his hands, it looked like an upside down heart. He was rubbing it with his figure as he stared at it with hunger in his eyes.

"What's that thing?" I asked pointing at the ruby.

"It's a _Fire Ruby, _it's a very rare gem. Spike says it's his birthday present to himself and he's gonna eat it as his birthday dinner." Twilight explained.

I felt so beaten by this, my present to Spike had been out-matched by that large shiny ruby in his claws. I almost felt embarrassed due to the irony in it all. "Oh…well so much for my present." I said.

"Don't worry, Matt. You can still give him you're present, I'm sure he'll love them. And don't worry about him liking that ruby better than yours! You know Spike, he'll chow down on any gem, ruby, or diamond he gets no matter how big or small." Twilight stated with a confident smile.

I turned my head around to face her and smiled at her. "Ok, Twi. Who knows, maybe he'll eat mine for a second dinner or something." I said.

Twilight nodded. "Exactly, now can you please help me stack these books? Remember to place each book in their proper place." She said before she continued to put books up on the shelves.

"Sure thing, Twi." I said before I grabbed my saddle-bags with my mouth and placed them on the floor, I then started to help Twilight stack the books back up on the shelves.

Just then. "Hellooooo!" A female voice came from behind the front door of the library, the door knob then glowed light blue before the door opened and Rarity slid her head in. "Anypony home? Twilight? Matthew?" she asked.

I looked over to her and smile. But before I could say anything, she suddenly gasped loudly at the sight of Spike's Fire Ruby.

She walked over to him and eyed the ruby. "Is that a Fire Ruby?...That must be at least twenty carats. No inclusions, pristine facets…" She said with awe as she saw her reflection in the shiny ruby.

"And totally delicious." Spike added.

I raised my eye brow. "Looks like a plain old gem to me." I said; causing Rarity to gasp loudly at me.

Suddenly, she shot right up to my face. "Just an old gem? This happens to be one of the rarest gems even know, and all you can call it is…a plain old gem?" she said loudly in my face.

I was slightly frightened by her volume and the way she looked me dead in the eyes. "Well…I…errr…" I said nervously.

Before I could say anything else, Twilight looked at us with an irritated look in her eyes. "Urr…if you guys don't mind?" she said.

Rarity then snapped out of her seemingly offended state and looked over to Twilight. "Oh, urr, of course." She then started walking over to Twilight; allowing me to exhale in relief that she had forgotten what I said.

"I just came to see if you had any books on historical fashion." Rarity stated before she looked back at Spike rubbing the ruby with his finger before he sucked the ruby's flavour off it.

Rarity then went back over to Spike with his back turned to her. "Did you say desirous?" she asked with confusion.

Spike then turned around to face her with a smile. "Sure did, next week's my birthday, and this is my birthday dinner." He said as he walked away from her.

"Oh, now he's just rubbing it in." I thought as I groaned in my mouth while continuing to stack up the fallen books.

Rarity had a look of despair on her face as she watched Spike walk away, she held her hoof up in a position that looked as though she wanted to say something. Also, he ears were low, so something must be bothering her.

Rarity's looked then changed as Twilight hovered a book in front of her face as she continued to focus all her attention on the books. "Start with this one!" Twilight said as she walked passed Rarity.

Rarity then smiled with delight as she took the book with her magic before she opened it. "Thanks, Twilight. I've got a feeling ruffled taffeta capes are going to make a huge comeback this season, and I want to be ahead of the game." She stated as Twilight just continued to organise the books.

I overheard this and took some interest in why she wanted to know this stuff, I walked over to her before I looked in the book she was reading. "So…how come you want to know about these cape things? Planning on making some as a new design?" I asked.

Rarity turned her head to face me. "I'm thinking about it, but I need something truly international to get me going, I'm hoping this book will have something that'll inspire me." She stated.

I nodded to say I understood. "Alright then." I then looked in the book to try and help her. "Hmm…oh, here's something. Apparently, some of these cape things were worn by famous fashion models back in the day. That's pretty cool, huh?" I asked Rarity with a hopeful smile.

Rarity gave me an unsure look. "Well yes, that is pretty...cool. But it's not the type of insertion I was looking…for." She said as she kept looking back at Spike kneeling in front of a case while rubbing his ruby.

Rarity then bit her own arm with a worried look on her face, I noticed this and wondered what was wrong. "Rarity, are you feeling alright? You look kinda worried about something." I said.

I didn't get an answer as Rarity turned herself around to face Spike better, she watched as he gently placed the ruby into the case in front of him. "I hope it's as tasty as it is beautiful, Spike." She said; earning Spike's attention.

"I've never seen anything quite so stunning before." Rarity said with a sweet smile, he smile then changed to a small frown as she looked down at the floor.

I gave what was going on here my full attention, it seemed that Rarity was more fond of the ruby than I thought she was. Spike picked the ruby up out of the case and looked at it. "Gosh…you really like it, huh?" he asked.

Rarity then looked up to him. "Like it? it's…_magnificent_." She said swaying her mane before beating her beautiful eye-lashes at Spike.

Spike blinked his eyes a few times before a heart-struck smile came on his face, but his smile went away as he looked down at his ruby in his hands. I could tell he was thinking about something, I just sat there and watched what was going on between these two.

"Then you should have it, this beautiful gem was meant to be with you." Spike said as he placed his ruby on the palm of Rarity's hoof.

I was surprised by Spike's generous act, I was also pretty proud of him. I could tell he had his heart set on eating that ruby, but he just selflessly gave it to Rarity. He could have just kept it for himself, but he didn't.

Rarity looked as surprised as I was, she used her magic to hold the ruby up in mid-air as she looked at it. "I don't know what to say." She said as she gave him a thankful smile.

Spike bit his bottom lip as he watched the ruby hover in front of him, he quickly closed his eyes and stuck his hand out in front of it to try and resist it.

Spike then placed his hands behind his back as he rocked back and forth on his feet, Rarity trotted around him with a large smile as the ruby hovered in front of her. "This is so thoughtful. Oh, my little Spikey-Wikey." She said.

Just then, something mind-blowing happened. While Spike had his back turned, Rarity leaned in and planted a kiss on Spike's cheek; leaving a lipstick kiss mark on his cheek and a look of full surprise on his face.

My mouth hung wide open with surprise at this, Rarity had never kissed Spike in any way before. The surprisement I got from seeing Spike give Rarity his ruby was overpowered by the surprisement I felt now.

As Rarity made her way towards the front door with the ruby hovering beside her, Spike stood there frozen before he fainted backwards.

"Thank you so much." Rarity said with joy as she hopped passed Twilight before she left the library.

After she had left, Twilight looked over to Spike with a proud smile. "Wow, Spike. That's one of the kindest, most generous things you've ever done. I've never seen Rarity so happy." She stated.

After my surprise had worn off, I walked over to Spike with a smirk on my face. Spike was lying on the floor with a dazed look on his face. "Yeah dude, you're totally in the ball-park now. How's it feel, lover-boy?" I asked.

Spike lifted his head up off the floor and rubbed the cheek Rarity kissed. "I will never wash this cheek again." he said while blushing before he sighed lovingly.

I chucked at this. "I'll take that as an '_it feels good'_." I said before I decided to leave him for a bit and walked over to Twilight to help her to finish stacking the books.

**One week later**

The day had finally come, it was Spike's birthday and we were all decorating the library in birthday decorations.

Twilight used her magic to place a large table beside the wall before she lowered a punch-bowl and small glasses onto it, Peewee was busy checking to food on the other tables to see if everything was organized.

Me and Jeff were busty blowing up the balloons, it was hard because I had to use a lot of breath to blow them all up. After I had blown my 16th balloon, I panted with exhaustion. "Whow…this is harder than it looks." I said.

Twilight looked over to me. "Then why don't you use the pump that came with the balloons?" she suggested.

I looked at her with a raised eye brow. "There's a pump?" I asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes before she looked up at Spike, he was at the top of a ladder hanging up some decorations. "Just about finished, Spike? Everypony will be here soon." She said with a smile.

Spike the finished what he was doing. "There, perfect. Everything looks perfect." He said as he climbed down the stairs.

Everything did look perfect, the entire front room of the library looked like a big birthday party. I then watched as Twilight walked over to Spike with a wash cloth floating in front of her. "Not quite everything." She said.

Spike then grabbed the wash cloth and gave it a confused look. "A wash cloth? I don't get it." he stated.

Twilight then looked at him with a raised eye brow. At that moment, he got what she was saying and dropped the cloth. "Ah, no way, Twilight. I said I wasn't gonna wash the cheek that Rarity kissed, and I meant it." he said before he crossed his arms and turned his head; revealing the dirty patch on his cheek that covered the lipstick mark that Rarity's kiss had left.

Twilight then lifted the wash cloth up with her magic before she tapped her hoof on the floor with a grin on her face, as if she was planning to charge at him.

Me and Jeff knew she was going to do exactly that, Jeff looked over to Spike with wide eyes. "Spike, RUN!" he yelled.

Spike then quickly sprang across the library to get away from Twilight, Twilight went after him. "It's over, Spike. I'm cleaning that cheek." She stated strongly.

As Spike kept trying to run away, Twilight used her magic to teleporting him back in front of her, but he just kept running away only to be teleporting right back to her. "Twi (Flash)….(Flash) stop it!(Flash)" Spike said as he kept disappearing and reappearing.

"Never." Twilight stated as she kept bringing him back to her only for him to keep running.

But when Spike disappeared again, Pinkie Pie appeared in front of Twilight instead with a party hooter in her mouth, she then blew it.

"Hey, where'd Spike go?" I asked as I started to worry about him. Just then, Spike reappeared across the room and I exhaled in relief.

Pinkie Pie the shot over to Spike. "Happy birthday." She cheered as she threw confetti over him.

While Spike admired the confetti raining down on him, Twilight took this as her opportunity to clean his dirty cheek. She quickly pushed the wash cloth on his face and cleaned the dirt off his cheek, she grinned in victory while Spike frown in disappointment.

"Tough luck, little bro." I said as I walked over to him.

"Party time, WOO-HOO!" Pinkie Pie cheered as the rest of the main 6 came in the room; they each had a present in their mouths. Except for Rainbow Dash, who was holding a weight with a ripped tied around it in her arms.

I looked down at Spike with a large smile. "Hey, Spike. Look at all those presents for you." I said as I pointed my hoof at our friends.

Spike then looked over to them and saw the presents they had. "Are those…for me?" he asked.

"You bet they are, birthday boy." Applejack stated cheerfully as she threw her present to Spike into his hands while walking passed him.

Fluttershy then came over to him and placed her present on top of Applejack's. "Happy birthday, Spike." She said kindly before walking passed him.

Rarity then stacked her present on top of the others before Pinkie Pie did the same, Spike looked as though he was having trouble keeping hold of them all. And it didn't make things easier when Rainbow Dash dropped her weight present on top of the stack of presents in Spike's hands.

Spike struggled to keep them up before he finally fell over; dropping all his presents. Spike leaned up and rubbed his head before he looked at his presents in wonder and confusion.

I looked at the others to see them look at each other in confusion too, I also starting to wonder why Spike wasn't very thrilled with his presents. "Don't you know you get presents on your birthday?" Rainbow Dash asked as she hovered in mid-air.

Spike then got up to his feet. "Well, actually this is my first birthday in Ponyville. I usually just get one present…from Twilight…a book!" he explained with a groan as he narrowed his eyes.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Really, a book? Ha, that's so like her." I stated.

Unknown to any of us, Twilight was about to walk over to Spike with a book hovering behind her, it had a ribbon tied around it. She looked back at it before she quickly hid it behind her back and backed away with a sheepish smile.

I then remembered my present for Spike, I quickly flew upstairs and grabbed the ruby filled saddle-bags, I had tied a green ribbon around them to make them look like presents.

I quickly flew back down and landed in front of Spike before I placed the saddle-bags down in front of him. "By the way, these are my present to you. Happy birthday, dude." I said with a warm smile.

Spike looked down at the saddle-bags before he opened them; revealing the Yellow Sparkle Rubies to him. Spike was wide-eyed with surprise.

"Are these…Yellow Sparkle Rubies? Oooh, these are one of the most delicious gems in Equestria." Spike said with a large smile.

I was so glad he liked them, I've been worried that he wouldn't since last week. "I'm glad you like them, Spike. I figured you would." I said.

Spike then took one of the rubies out of one of the bags before he threw it in his mouth and chewed it, he smiled with satisfaction as he munched on the ruby.

Once Spike swallowed it, he looked up to me with a thankful smile. "These are delicious, thanks Matt." he said before he leaped up to me and hugged me around my neck.

I smiled warmly as I hugged him back. Twilight, Peewee, and the rest of the main 6 all smiled sweetly as they saw this. "Hey…those were from both of us, you know." Jeff cutted in; ruining the bonding moment.

We then broke the hug and looked over to him. "Oh right…thanks, Jeff. You wanna hug too?" Spike asked.

Jeff put his wing up. "Nah, I'm ok." He stated calmly.

Spike then looked back up to me with a warm smile. "Anyway, thanks again for the rubies." He said before he looked at the others. "Thank you all for your presents, I'm sure I'll love whatever they are." He said, we all smiled at him.

"Speaking of presents." Rarity said before he horn glowed and a bright purple cape came out from behind her back. "This is from my new line of taffeta capes. I'm going to make one for each of you, except for Matthew because these are for girls." She stated as the others looked at the cape in awe.

"Awww." I said in disappointment.

"Not to worry, though. I have something else in mind for you." Rarity stated.

I then smiled at her. "Oh." I said before I looked at the cape she had showed off. "I guess you found the insertion you were looking for, huh?" I asked.

Rarity nodded. "Yes, I've been inspired by the generosity of my little Spikey-Wikey, who gave me this beautiful Fire Ruby, one of the kindest acts I've ever experienced." She stated.

Apparently, Rarity had attached the Fire Ruby in the middle of a golden necklace and was now wearing it around her neck, the ruby was placed on it upside down so it now looked like an actual heart. Spike stared at it as he drooled, I guess he didn't quite get over it yet.

Rarity then leaned down and nuzzled her head against Spike's, Spike closed his eyes and nuzzled back. As he did, he opened one of his eyes to look over to me.

I smiled proudly as I winked at him, telling him he did a good job.

**Later that day**

Spike had opened all his presents and was very happy with the things he got. Especially the blanket he got from Applejack, he's thanked her 14 times already.

Spike held to blanket up to look at it again. "Applejack, I can't thank you enough for this great blanket. I really needed a new one." He said as he walked up to her and hugged her tightly.

"I guess that makes it fifteen times he's thanked her now?" Jeff asked with his wings crossed, he was stood on my back with a party hat on.

I was wearing a green party hat, I turned my head around to face him and nodded. "Yep, that's the number so far." I said before I turned my attention back on Spike.

Applejack gave him a modest smile. "C'mon, Spike. You've already thanked me fifteen times, I'm startin' to get a little embarrassed." She claimed as she gently pushed him off her, Spike smiled at her sheepishly.

"I know I keep thanking you guys, but I'm just so grateful. I wish this party could last forever." Spike stated.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was bouncing up and down on a blue balloon, she over-heard what Spike said before the balloon popped under her hooves.

"Duh." Pinkie Pie said before she shot up between Me and Twilight and pushed us away to see Spike.

"The party can't last forever 'cause you have to go to Sugar Cube Corner, 'cause the Cakes said they have a special surprise for you. 'Cause it's your birthday." Pinkie Pie cheered again.

Spike smiled largely with excitement at this news. "NO WAY!" he cheered before he shot towards the front door.

Pinkie watched as he left. "I said the party couldn't last forever, but it doesn't need to end right now!" She yelled over to him, but it was too late as Spike ran out the library and shut the door behind him.

The room was silent as we stared at the door Spike had left through. "Well, he's gone." I said.

"Does this mean the party's over?" Rainbow Dash asked as she walked over to me.

I turned my head to face her before I shrugged. "I guess." I said.

"Well then , I guess I better head back to the farm. I've got a lot of work to do today, thanks for the party though." Applejack said as started to head towards the door.

Rarity then started to follow her. "I agree with Applejack, I have to get home if I'm ever going to get started on making these capes. Tell Spikey-Wikey to have a marvellous birthday for me, will you?" She asked.

Twilight nodded. "Sure thing, Rarity. We'll tell him when he gets back." She stated.

Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash then said their goodbyes as they followed them out of the library. They closed the door behind them; leaving Me, Twilight, Jeff and Peewee alone in the messy library.

Twilight then looked at me. "So, should we get started on cleaning this place up?" she asked.

I then thought about it for a moment. "We could do that…or we could take a walk through town and enjoy the peaceful weather." I suggested hoping she'd agree.

Twilight looked around at the mess in the library as she rubbed her chin with her hoof, she then looked at me with a smirk. "Alright, we'll clean it up when we get back."

I smirked back. "It's a date then." I said as I walked over to her.

Jeff then flew off my back to join Peewee on the food table. "You guys go on, I'm gonna stay here and chill in the peace and quiet." He said before he lied down on the table with his wings behind his head.

Peewee stepped forward. "Don't worry, I'll watch the library and _him_." He said.

"Alright, Peewee. We'll be back soon." I stated as Twilight and I walked out the library and closed the door behind us.

**Later: Ponyville streets**

Twilight and I were walking through town enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. "Well, today's gone well, hasn't it?" I asked with a smile.

Twilight turned her head to face me with a smile. "Yeah, it has. Spike's never had a birthday as good as this one before, he was so happy." She said.

"Yeah…I wonder where he went anyway." I said as I wondered where Spike had gone to after he left the library.

As we entered Ponyville square, my wonder ended as I saw Spike up ahead with a fancy white hat on his head while holding a rubber ball in his tale.

He appeared to be talking to the female Earth pony I knew as _Junebug_, she was carrying two baskets on her back which were filled with flowers.

"There he is." I said as I pointed to him.

Twilight looked in the direction I was pointing in and saw Spike. "What's he doing with Junebug?" she asked before she trotted off towards him, I then followed behind.

Once we were close enough, we over-heard what Spike and Junebug were saying. "Aren't you gonna give me somethin'? You know, like a birthday present?" Spike asked as Junebug was walking away from him.

Junebug stopped and turned around to face him. "Um…I…I don't have anything." She stated innocently with a smile.

Spike then pointed to her baskets of flowers. "Well, how about those flowers? I'll take those." He said looking as though he was about to grab them.

Me and Twilight were shocked at what we were seeing. "Spike!" Twilight yelled before she used her magic to grab his ear and pull him away.

She gave Spike a firm look before she stepped in front of him and smiled at Junebug. "Sorry, Junebug. I think Spike might've gotten a little carried away." She explained.

"Yeah, sorry about that." I added kindly.

Junebug just smile at us. "Um…no problem. Urr, happy birthday, Spike." She said as she walked away from us.

Once she was gone, we both gave Spike a firm look. "What're you doing? You're out here demanding gifts now?" Twilight said.

"Yeah, buddy. That's not right, that's just being greedy." I stated calmly.

Spike rubbed his head before he looked at the ball wrapped in his tale, he quickly let it go of it and he shook his head fast before he stopped.

"Wow…you're right, Matt. I don't know what got into me, thanks for snapping me out of it." Spike said as he took the hat off his head.

"Look, I know your birthday can be exciting. I know, I was once so excited for my birthday that I stayed up all night for the day to come. But that doesn't mean you should go around asking everypony for gifts." I stated.

Spike looked down at the ground. "I know, I better go give Cheerilee her hat back." He said.

Our firm looks then turned into small smiles. "Don't worry, little bro. Just calm down a bit, alright?" I said, Spike then nodded.

"Yeah, it's no problem. See you at home later?" Twilight asked with a smile as we walked passed him.

"Sounds good, bye." Spike said as he waved us off.

Once Twilight and I were back in the streets, Twilight turned her head to face me. "I still can't believe he was actually doing that, what was Spike thinking?" she asked in slight shock.

I looked at her and shrugged. "He's just a kid, kids are like that on their birthdays. Trust me, he'll come back to the library and by tomorrow, we'll have forgotten all about it." I stated with confidence.

We both then decided to drop the conversation and continued walking through the streets and enjoyed the rest of the sunny day.

**The next morning: Library**

The sun rose up in Ponyville and shined through the windows of the library, Me and Twilight were still asleep in our bed.

We started to slowly wake up as the sunlight sun though our eye lids.

We both then woke up completely and Twilight leaned up on the bed before she stretched her arms up. "Wow, what a rough night sleep. I had the weirdest dream." She said.

I leaned up on the bed too and smirked at her. "Was it about me?" I joked.

Twilight turned her head to face me and giggled. "Maybe."

I chuckled before I moved up to the end of the bed to wake up Spike. "Spike, it's time to wak-HOLY HELL FIRE!" I yelled in shock at what I saw.

Spike's basket was covered with different kinds of random objects, the pile was slightly moving up and down with snoring sounds coming from within it. Spike must've been sleeping under it.

Spike must've gotten this stuff from the other ponies in town. I was astonished by this, especially after he told us he wouldn't ask anyone for anymore presents. I was also rather disappointed in him because he lied to us.

Twilight came over to me and saw what I saw, she then jumped off the bed and walked up to the pile of objects with a look of anger on her face.

"I can't believe you, Spike. Where'd you this…(gasp)" Twilight gasped after she used her magic to lift up some of the objects to reveal something truly surprising which caused her to drop the objects she lifted.

Spike was lying in his basket asleep with the hat on his head and the rubber ball in his hand, but he definitely didn't look the same. Apparently, he had grown in size over night. His body and limbs were long and thin, and his face looked so different. He looked like how he would if he was a teenager, he was even too big to fit in his basket.

Spike opened his eyes and looked up at us before he yawned with a hiss. Me and Twilight were now more shocked than ever, we had never seen Spike like this before, my mouth hung wide open as I looked at him.

Spike the sat up in his basket. "What happened?" he asked as he rubbed his head. Twilight took a step back from him with a worried look on her face.

"…Oh crap. Hey, where's Jeff and Peewee?" I asked looking around the basket for them.

Just then, we heard muffling coming from where Spike was sitting, he heard this and stood up completely to reveal Jeff and Peewee squished into the cushion in the basket. "…Thanks…" Jeff groaned with his eyes wide open.

A few minutes later, we took immediate action in trying to find out how Spike ended up like this.

It was strange, yesterday he was his original baby dragon size, now he's as big as a teenager. Dragons don't just grow like that, there had to be some explanation for this.

Me and Twilight searched through many books to find the answer, but there wasn't many books about dragons or how their species worked.

Twilight was even reading 3 books at once to try and find something. I was just looking through one, but I had 2 in a stack sitting beside me.

Jeff and Peewee couldn't take their eyes off Spike, they just found it so freaky that it's weirdly fascinating to them.

"What's happening to me, guys?" Spike asked with a loud worried voice as he tried to pull the hat off his head, which he must have been wearing when he grew because it was stuck on his head.

"I don't know, think back to last night, did something happen?" Twilight asked as she continued to search through the books.

Spike finally managed to pull the hat off his head, Spike was about to say something before Jeff cutted in. "Yeah, something happened. He grew large and nearly squished me and Peewee, does that answer your question?" he asked in an irritated tone.

Twilight turned her head around and gave him a small glare, I then looked down at him. "Jeff, now's not the time for your attitude." I said, Jeff then huffed as he crossed his wings.

I then looked at Spike. "Anyway, what were you about to say, Spike?" I asked calmly.

Spike looked down at his body to examine the new changes, he then looked at his hand before he started to look around the room in a strange way, like he was in some sort of trance. He suddenly started drooling with a large smile on his face.

Twilight then looked at him once she noticed he wasn't answering, she walked up in front of him. "Spike?" she said.

But Spike didn't answer, he just kept eyeing the room. "What did you do after we saw you?" Twilight asked; snapping him out of his trance.

Spike then smacked the side of his head with his hand to make him focus. "I went to talk tooo…." But it didn't work as he drifted for his sentence and he stared at an Earth globe across the room, he walked towards it like he couldn't resist doing so.

I was starting to wonder why he was acting like this, I was also worried. "Spike, are you feeling alright?" I asked.

Spike didn't answer again as he stared wide-eyed right at the globe while spinning it with his finger.

"SPIKE!" Twilight yelled to try and gain back his attention, her horn then glowed before the globe Spike was staring at lifted off the floor; causing Spike to fall forward onto the floor.

Twilight then walked up to him. "You went to talk to who?" she asked.

Spike then got up off the floor before he looked up at the floating globe. "Oh, umm…I don't remember. Hey, can I have that globe? You're not using it, right?" he said.

"Huh?" Twilight said in confusion as Spike grabbed the globe out of the air.

I watched as Spike crawled up the wall with the globe wrapped in his tail, he climbed back up to his basket with all the random objects before he placed the globe with them.

"Whow…never seen him move like that before." I said out loud.

Once the globe was added to the pile, Spike reached over to a shelf and pulled out a book. "What about this book?" he asked.

"Why can we never have a _normal_ day?" Peewee asked with narrow eyes.

Twilight's horn then glowed before she teleported the both of us up to Spike, I appeared in front of him while Twilight appeared on top of the Earth globe.

Twilight used her magic to grab the book Spike was holding and tried to pull it out of his hand. "Spike, I'm worried about you. You're usually not so…grabby." She said before she managed to pry the book out of his hand.

"Yeah, Spike. What's wrong with you today, you're not acting like yourself." I said with concern.

I didn't get an answer as Spike walked around the pile before reaching up and grabbing the book that Twilight took off him.

"My arms aren't usually (Voice drops) this long either." Spike said as his voice suddenly dropped lower, he quickly covered his mouth in shock.

I was beyond surprised by the sudden changes Spike was experiencing, it was like he was growing older by the minute. First he has the body of a teen, now his voice has changed. "Whow…dragons hit puberty fast." I thought.

"Spike…say something again." I said as I listened closely.

Spike then removed his hands from his mouth. "…Hello.." he said in his new deep voice, he then covered his mouth again.

"…That's so weird." I said as I became freaked out by all of this.

Spike took his hands away from his mouth again and looked up at Twilight. "What's happening to me?" he asked in a freaked out tone.

Twilight then looked at him closely as she rubbed her chin with her hoof, I then stepped in. "Well, if we can't figure it out, maybe someone else can. Maybe we should take him to see a doctor." I suggested.

Twilight then looked down at me. "I guess that could work, although I'm not sure if a doctor will know anything about this. This may be a part of a dragon's life style." She said.

I looked up to her. "Do we have any other options?" I asked.

Twilight then rubbed her chin again as she thought about it. "I guess not. Ok, we'll take him to a doctor."

With that, Twilight's horn glowed and she teleported the both of us and Spike back down the stairs. "Come on, Spike." She said as she made her way towards the front door.

I turned my head to face Spike to see he was beside me anymore, I looked around for him until I saw him eyeing another book in his hands.

I walked over to him with an annoyed look before I smacked the book out of his hands, I then flew around him and pushed him towards the door with my front hooves.

"Alright, I'm going." Spike said in as I continued to push him towards the door to follow Twilight.

Jeff and Peewee watched us go. "Err, ok…we'll just…wait here…I guess." Jeff called in awkwardness.

**Later that day: Zecora's hut**

The trip to the doctors wasn't very helpful, the guy didn't even know Spike was a dragon until Spike breathed fire in his face. He was alright afterwards, but he couldn't help us.

We even decided to take Spike to a vet, she wasn't much help either. She claimed to have never seen a real live dragon before, therefore she couldn't help us.

We then finally took him to see someone who's dealt with the supernatural before, Zecora.

We were now at her hut, she examined Spike in certain ways. She listened closely as she tapped his head with her hoof before she swung a watch in front of him.

Spike wasn't hypnotized by it however, instead he tried to grab it the best he could.

Zecora then took the watch away. "He is starting to mature. Of this fact, I am quite sure." She said.

Twilight then rubbed her head in confusion. "Mature? So he's just…growing up?" she asked.

I then looked at her. "You might've been right, Twi. Maybe this _is_ part of a dragon's life style, it's kind of a better excuse." I stated.

Twilight then looked at me. "But that doesn't explain why he keeps grabbing things." she said before she noticed Spike was holding a vase in his hands, she then used her magic to pry it off him.

Zecora walked over to her brew-pot and looked in the steaming water. "A dragon's heart is prone to greed, a steady diet to make growth speed." She said as she sprinkled some green dust in the pot.

Me and Twilight walked over to the pot and looked into the water. "Then, the resulting bigger size only makes their hunger rise." Zecora stated.

We looked in the pot to see the green dust form into the shape of Spike, it showed him growing bigger with more and more random objects swirling around him. It then showed him becoming some sort of monster with a hunger for greed.

"If this trait should go unchecked, if Spike continues to collect more growth will certainly occur, he is going to turn into a monster." Zecora stated.

Me and Twilight gasped at this, Spike would grow with every object he would collect no matter what it was. He's gonna become an unstoppable monster he if we didn't do something fast.

"You mean…the more things a dragon collects, the bigger and greedier he gets? But how do we stop him before he's completely out of control." Twilight asked.

While she was talking to Zecora about the matter, I heard strange noises behind me. I turned around to see Spike gathering up all of Zecora's stuff. "Err…guys…" I said trying to get their attention.

But they didn't pay attention to me. "If his monstrous ways you wish to impede, you must prevent him from practicing greed." Zecora stated.

I continued to watch as Spike collected every last thing in the hut before he ran out the door with them. "That…may be a problem now." I said.

Twilight turned her head to face me. "How come?" she asked.

"He's gone." I said with narrow eyes.

Twilight and Zecora then looked around the hut to see that everything was gone, Spike even managed to take the brew-pot without them even knowing.

Zecora gave us a look that told us she wasn't very happy.

We both smiled nervously at her before Twilight laughed nervously, she continued to smile as she leaned her head to me. "Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

"I tried to." I claimed while still smiling.

We then stopped smiling and quickly headed towards the door. "Don't worry, Zecora. We'll get your stuff back and help Spike before he becomes an unstoppable monster." I said as we left and closed the door.

I then stopped and opened the door again. "Hopefully." I said to Zecora before I closed the door again.

Twilight and I then galloped back towards town to find Spike fast.

**Ponyville streets**

Once back in town, Me and Twilight slit up and searched all over town for Spike.

We galloped all over town looking for Spike, we didn't think it would be this hard to find a dragon that grabbed everything he saw.

Me and Twilight then regrouped and we looked around in worry. "This is ridiculous, how hard can it be to find him? He should stick out like a sore hoof in this town." I said loudly.

"Calm down, Matt. He's around here somewhere." Twilight said as she looked around for him.

Just then. "Get away from her, you brute!" A female voice yelled from around the bend of a house.

We quickly galloped around the house to see Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders fighting over Scootaloo's scooter. "SPIKE WANT!" Spike yelled in a deeper voice.

"You're not getting my scooter." Scootaloo said as she tried to pull it out of Spike's grasp.

"Grr…SPIKE WANT!" Spike yelled again, I could see on his face that he was getting angry.

I started to panic. "Ok, ok, what're we gonna do, Twi?" I asked as I panicky trotted on the spot.

Twilight looked left and right before she saw a broom leaned against a house, she grinned as she gained an idea. Her horn glowed and the broom levitated over to us.

I looked at the broom before I realised what she was planning, I looked back at Twilight with a smile. "Yeah, yeah, that's good thinkin' you have there." I said.

Twilight smiled at me before she turned her attention back to Spike. "Hey, Spike." She said loud enough for him to hear.

Spike turned his head to face Twilight with a glare before she dangled the broom in front of him, he looked at it with awe. "Check out this _amazing_ broom." Twilight said.

Twilight brought the broom back over to us before Spike finally released the scooter; causing the three fillies to fall backwards.

"SPIKE…WAAAAAANT!" Spike yelled loudly as he grew even bigger.

My mouth dropped at this. "Twi, I hope you know what you're doing." I said backing away.

Spike then got down on his hands and charged towards us.

Me and Twilight quickly sprang away from him with the broom in front of us, Spike chased after us with determination to get the broom.

A few minutes later, we managed to lore Spike back to the library and we quickly got inside with Spike not far behind us.

"Come on, big boy. Look at this incredible broom." Twilight said as she waved the broom around in mid-air in front of the doorway.

"Do we really need to encourage him? We already got his attention." I said as we both stood beside a door that led to the other room.

Twilight quickly pulled the broom away as Spike tried to make a grab for it, only for him to get stuck in the doorway. He finally managed to pull himself through which caused him to roll across the floor before stopping on his feet.

Spike saw us with the broom across the room. "SPIIIKE…WAAAAANT!" he yelled again as I opened the door and Twilight threw the broom into the other room, Spike followed it and I slammed the door behind him.

Me and Twilight then quickly placed ourselves against the door to prevent him from coming back out, he was now trapped. "Ha, got ya now!" I yelled in victory.

Suddenly, Spike pounded against the door to try and break out. "Fight all you want, we're not letting you out." Twilight said in a firm voice.

"Yeah, what she said." I added.

Just then, the pounding stopped and I looked at Twilight with worry. "Why did he stop?" I asked almost afraid to ask.

We then stepped away from the door before Twilight opened it with her magic, we walked in to see that Spike had taken down all the books and piled then together, he was sitting on top of the pile.

"Oh, Spike. I just re-shelved this room." Twilight said as she lifted pile of books off the ground with her magic; causing Spike fell off and hit the floor. Twilight hovered the books through the doorway placed down beside us.

Once they were in the same room we were in, I slammed the door shut again so Spike couldn't get out. Me and Twilight then took a minute to breath.

Just then, Jeff and Peewee flew over to us as if they didn't know what was happening. "You fix Spike's problem?" Jeff asked.

Suddenly, we heard a loud crash in the room Spike was in. "Guess not." Jeff said with narrow eyes.

I then looked at Twilight. "...We should just walk away…right now." I said trying not to think what the sound was.

Twilight didn't think the same way, she opened the door with her magic again and we went wide-eyed at what we saw.

Spike had smashed through the wall and was now somewhere back in town, Spike had escaped.

"Oh, this day just keeps getting better." I groaned before Twilight and I galloped towards the front door to go find him before he can cause any more damage.

Jeff and Peewee watched us with wide eyes, Peewee turned his head to face Jeff. "Shouldn't we help them?" he asked.

Jeff then looked at him before he waved his wing. "Nah, they can handle it. Let's go get some food from the kitchen, I'm starvin'." He said.

The two birds then flew towards the kitchen.

**Sweet Apple Aches **

We knew we had to get help, we couldn't handle Spike on our own. We figured Applejack might be able to help.

We rushed into the apple tree fields of Sweet Apple Arches to see Spike had already been here, all the apples and leaves were missing from all the trees.

We then saw Applejack up ahead and we rushed towards her. Once we reached her, we the stopped in front of her. "Applejack, help! Spike's running wild and we need you to lasso him." Twilight said.

Applejack stared at us with wide eyes before she laughed. "Haha, oh that's a good one, Twilight. Sweet little Spike running wild, ha, what a laugh." She said, we both looked at her with annoyed looks.

Just then, I heard stomping behind me. I turned around to see Spike running this way with his arms full with apples and leaves, I turned my head back to Applejack. "Oh yeah? How's this for a laugh?" I said.

Twilight and Applejack watched as Spike ran passed us with leaves floating off behind him, two of the leaves landed on Applejack's face which made her look as though she had a leaf mustache.

"Matt…get my rope." Applejack said as she glared at Spike.

After fetching her rope, we were now galloping after Spike, Twilight held one end of the rope in her mouth while Applejack held the other end in hers. I flew on ahead to try and slow Spike down.

I then notice Spike drop on apple on the ground, I gained an idea before I flew down and picked it up. I then shot off ahead of Spike and stopped in his path.

"Hey, you forgot one." I said before I dropped the apple on the ground.

Once Spike reached me, he looked down at the apple before he leaned down to pick it up.

Suddenly, I looked up in surprise to see Twilight and Applejack leaping towards me. They fell passed me but the rope they held on to caught me and pulled me down with them.

We then hit a tree, we hopelessly spun around it until the rope we had tied around us, we were now tied to the tree. Applejack gave me an annoyed look. "Great plan makin' him duck, Matt." she said.

"Hey, the rope was your thing." I stated.

Spike then noticed us before he roared in our faces and stormed off; leaving us tied to the tree.

As we struggled to get loose, I stopped and narrowed my eyes. "Hey Applejack, remember the other day when I said we should find a way to bring us closer?" I asked.

Applejack looked at me and nodded. "Yeah."

"I just wanna say….this is _not_ what I meant." I said as I shook my head.

Applejack rolled her eyes before we continued to struggle. Twilight then stopped. "It's no use, there's only one thing we can do." she said.

Applejack and I looked at her before we nodded, we then threw our heads up and yelled. "HEEEELP!"

After a second, Rainbow Dash noticed us as she was flying by and flew down before she stopped in front of us in mid-air.

As we stared up at her, she tried to hold back from laughing before she couldn't hold it anymore. She fell back on the ground laughing her head off. "HAHAHA, don't tell me, you…you tied yourselves up?" she said before she continued laughing.

Applejack gave her an annoyed look as Twilight and I continued to struggle. "Get us out of here right now." Applejack said.

Just then, we heard a load scream. "What was that?" I asked with worry.

Rainbow Dash then stopped laughing before she got up off the ground and into mid-air. "Sounded like Fluttershy to me." she said.

I then looked at her. "Then what're you waiting for, Thanksgiving? Get us out of here." I said as I struggled again.

Rainbow Dash then flew over to us. "Alright, mister pushy." She said as she untied the rope and Me, Twilight and Applejack fell from the tree and landed on our hooves.

I then turned my head to face Twilight. "Come on." I said before we all galloped towards Fluttershy's cottage with Rainbow Dash following us through the air.

**Later: Sugar Cube Corner**

After finding Fluttershy who was hiding up a tree, she claimed that Spike had stolen her chicken coop and placed all his collected objects inside it. He must be using it as some sort of box to place them in so he wouldn't have to carry them.

I for one, was impressed by his smart act, but Twilight didn't think it was so good, especially when it meant he could now carry more random objects.

Just then, we heard another scream, we easily recognised the scream as Pinkie Pie and rushed towards Sugar Cube Corner with Fluttershy now with us.

Once we got there, we saw Pinkie Pie on top of shelf cupboard throwing cake at Spike who looked slightly bigger.

However, Spike was grabbing the cakes Pinkie was throwing to him and placing them in Fluttershy's chicken coop which he held upside down and was now full of objects.

We had to stop her quick. "Pinkie Pie, stop giving him cake." Twilight said up to Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie then looked down at us with two cakes in her hooves. "I'm not giving him cake, I'm _assaulting_ him with cake." She stated, she then threw the two cakes at Spike before reaching down to get more.

But before she could get any more, Spike reached over and grabbed all the cakes off the shelves; causing Pinkie to fall off the cupboard and onto the floor.

We looked down at Pinkie Pie to see if she was alright before she stood back up. "How dare you take the cake!" she yelled while shaking her front hooves like fists.

We all then looked over to Spike as he growled. Just then, he stopped and looked down at his body as he grew even larger. He grew so big, that he broke the roof clear off Sugar Cube Corner.

I mouth dropped at the sight of this, Spike then saw something that caught his eye before he wrapped his tail around the chicken coop and walked away on his hands and legs.

"Damn, he's getting bigger by the minute." I said loudly.

Twilight then turned her head to face the others. "He's completely out of control, who knows where he'll go next." She said before she, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash rushed out of the shop.

I looked back to see Pinkie looking up at her missing roof with her mouth hanging open, Applejack was dragging her along by her tail and went passed me.

I followed them as I tried to calm Pinkie down. "Ok, Pinkie. Maintain…I know your roof is missing…but we'll get it fixed, right after we help Spike." I said as Applejack dragged Pinkie out of the shop with me behind them.

**Ponyville streets**

It wasn't long before everypony in town was screaming and galloping around, they obviously knew Spike was on a rampage.

However, they didn't actually know it _was_ Spike, they must've thought it was a random dragon that came out of no-where.

Me, Twilight and the others galloped through town trying to find Spike before he might get someone hurt.

After a few minutes of unsuccessful searching, Rainbow Dash grew frustrated. "Grr…this town is too big, how are we gonna find him like this?" she asked.

Just then, we heard a loud thundering roar behind us and we turned around.

My mouth dropped again to see that Spike had grown to the size of a fully grown dragon, his spines were longer, his neck was long and slender, and he just…didn't look like himself anymore.

Zecora was right, he had become a greedy monster.

"Sweet Celestia…is that what Spike really looks like when he's grown up?" I asked as I back away.

"I still can't believe that _is_ Spike." Applejack commented, Fluttershy was quivering with fear at the sight of him.

I looked closer at his arm to see her was holding the Ponyville Water-tower upside down and using it to carry his collected objects. We then heard a female scream coming from him.

"What was that?" I thought before I looked around him and was shocked to see that Spike was holding Rarity in his tail, she pounded his tail with her hooves trying to make him let go, she was wearing one of the capes she mentioned yesterday.

"HOLY CRAP, HE HAS RAITY!" I yelled at the top of my voice, Twilight and the others looked at his tail and gasped as they saw her.

Rainbow Dash then took action. "I'll get her down, c'mon Fluttershy!" she said before she shot up to Spike.

"Oooh." Fluttershy whimpered as she slowly followed her.

I then looked over to Twilight. "What do we do? There's no way to stop him by hoof, he's way too big now." I said.

Twilight looked at me with a worried look. "I don't know what to do, I wasn't prepared for anything like this." She stated.

"Well, we can't just stand here and do nothin'." Applejack said.

I looked back up to Spike to see that Rainbow Dash's plan didn't work. Spike was now trying to whack Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy with his tail, I could only imagine how Rarity felt while he was doing it.

Just then, Rarity's cape caught Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy and ripped off. They both then plummeted down and slashed into the river below, they both popped out of the water with the ripped cape floating beside them.

I saw this before glaring up at Spike. "Alright, I'm going up there." I said as I flapped my wings and hovered in the air.

Twilight gave me a worried look. "Be careful, Matt." she said.

I looked down at her with a smirk. "Hey…it's me, remember?" I said before I looked back up at Spike and shot up to him.

Twilight watched as I flew up to the rampaging Spike, the worried look didn't leave her face.

I flew up until I was right in front of Spike's face. "Come on, little buddy. Snap out of it! It's Matt, remember?" I said calmly to try and gain his trust.

Spike then looked at me with a raised eye brow, there was a moment where I thought he was starting to remember. I smiled as he reached his large hand out to me, I then reached my hoof out to touch him.

Suddenly, my hope vanished as he pulled his hand away and smacked me with it; sending me crash landing to the ground and skidding across it. I then stopped in front of Twilight and the others.

"Well…that didn't work." I groaned.

At that moment, the Wonderbolts came and started attacking Spike. Spike was now trying to whack them away.

Twilight looked down at me with concern. "Matt, are you ok?" she asked.

"…peachy…what's Spike doing now?" I asked in a groan as I looked up at her.

Twilight then turned her head to face another direction before she looked back down at me. "Climbing a high mountain." She answered.

My eyes shot open at this news before I leaned up off the ground to see Spike was halfway up a mountain, he held the upside down water tower out in front of him and the Wonderbolts shot right into it.

Spike then jabbed the water tower into a mountain and trapped the Wonderbolts inside it, Spike roared with victory.

I panicked once I saw this, I've seen something like this in a movie, and it didn't end well for the giant monster. I quickly got up off the ground and faced the others. "We have to get closer." I said.

"Quick, to the bridge. We can get a better view from there." Twilight said before we all galloped towards the bridge.

Meanwhile, Spike was still roaring in his small victory over the Wonderbolts. "Oh, be quiet." Rarity said in a strong tone; gaining Spike's attention.

"You've got nothing to be proud of. Steal every pony's things, terrorise the town, and use me as a weapon against my own friends. Which, as horrible as it is, I can almost understand because you're a dragon and all. But this." Rarity said before she ripped off the rest of her cape and levitated it in the air with her magic.

"This is a crime against fashion." She snapped in anger.

Spike glared at Rarity before he noticed the Fire Ruby she was still wearing around her neck, he stared at it in awe.

Rarity wondered what he was looking at before she looked down at her ruby and instantly knew, she then covered it with her hooves. "Oh no, you're not getting _this_ gemstone." She said.

Spike raised his eye brow as he cocked his head.

"This was given to me by my dear friend, Spikey-Wikey. The kindest, sweetest, most generous dragon ever. And it is too precious to me to give to a greedy old beast like you." Rarity said coldly.

Spike glared down at her before he looked closer at the ruby and experienced a flashback, he saw himself giving Rarity the Fire Ruby and earning a kiss from her. Once it ended, he shook his head and thought about what he was doing with a look of guilt on his face.

"Oh what now? I suppose you'll be eating me, or something?" Rarity said with her back turned away from Spike.

Suddenly, Spike's entire body started to shake before (SHRUNK) he rapidly shrunk back to his normal baby dragon size; leaving both him and Rarity in mid-air.

Rarity looked over to him from the corner of her eye before she went wide-eyed in shock. "Spike? You're the rampaging dragon?" she said loudly.

Before he could answer, they both plummeted to the earth screaming.

Meanwhile, we were all on the bridge looking up at them. I saw that Spike had shrunk back to size.

Pinkie Pie was looking up at them with binoculars before she took them off. "Somepony do something!" she yelled.

With that, Rainbow Dash flew up in front of the bridge with her chest out. "On it." she said before pulling Fluttershy to her.

I watched as they swooped down and grabbed the floating ripped cape in the river before they shot up towards Spike and Rarity with each end of the cape in their mouths.

I began to sweat with worry. "Please make it, please make it, please make it." I said under my breath.

Meanwhile, Spike looked at Rarity as they fell. "Rarity, I need to tell you something, just in case we don't make it." he said.

Rarity gave him her full attention.

Spike hesitated to say what he wanted to say before he found the courage to do so. "I've always sort of had a crush-" but Spike couldn't finish his sentence as Rarity placed her hoof on his lips.

Rarity smiled sweetly at him as tears forming in her eyes; implying that she already knew. Spike smiled back.

Meanwhile, I watched breathing heavily as they got closer to the ground. But just then, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy caught them in the cape in the nick-of-time.

I smiled with relief as I watched them carry Spike and Rarity back over to the bridge and placed them softly down in front of us.

Rainbow Dash had a proud smile with Fluttershy's mouth hung open, she then smiled before she hovered in the air. "We did it, I can't believe we did it." Fluttershy cheered.

Just then, I heard a metal creaking noise and I looked up at the mountain to see the water tower fall off the mountain and the Wonderbolts were free.

They quivered with fear before they put on a heroic pose and took off into the sky.

"Well, they weren't much help, were they?" I said while watching them leave.

I then looked over to Rainbow Dash. "Good timing, by the way." I complimented.

"All in a day's work." Rainbow Dash said with pride.

I smiled at her. "Yeah…but I'm just glad that Spike's back to normal. Right Spike?" I asked, but I didn't get an answer.

I looked at the spot where I last saw Spike but he wasn't there. "Spike?" I said looking around for him.

I then saw his sitting on the barrier of the bridge looking with guilt at all the destruction he made.

"Oh Spike." I said under my breath before I walked over to him, I then sat beside him and watched as he stared at one of his giant dragon footprints, he held his hand over it to see the size difference.

I then wrapped my arm around Spike to comfort him. "Hey…it's alright…you couldn't help it. You just weren't yourself, that's all." I said softy trying to make him feel better, but it didn't work.

Spike looked as though he was going to cry, until. "Spike, I just have to tell you how absolutely proud I am of you." Rarity said from behind us with a smile.

We both turned our heads around to face her. "Proud of…me?" Spike asked with confusion.

"Yes, it was you who stopped…w-well you, from destroying Ponyville….you're my hero Spikey-Wikey." Rarity said sweetly.

Spike smiled back at her with tears forming in his eyes, I gave him a proud smile.

Just then, Rarity surprised Spike by giving him another kiss on the cheek, Spike smiled at her with embarrassment.

As Rarity walked back over to the others, I smirked down at Spike before I tapped him with my elbow. "You never cease to impress the ladies, huh Spike?" I teased.

Spike looked at me and blushed deeply. "Matt, stoooop." He said in a quiet whine.

I chuckled as I got off the barrier and back on the bridge. "I'm just speaking the truth." I said smirking still.

Spike stood up on the barrier. "Matt, I'm serious. You're embarrassing me." he said.

My chuckle turned into a small laugh, I then stopped and smiled warmly at him. "It's good to have you back, little bro." I said.

Spike smiled warmly back at me before he jumped onto my back, I then walked across the bridge to join up with the others with Spike.

**Later that day: Rarity's boutique **

After everyone had calmed down from Spike's rampage, we all went to Rarity's boutique to see the new line of capes that she had finally finished.

She brought them out and gave Twilight and the others their own capes, of course Rarity's cape was now fixed.

They all looked wonderful in their capes, Twilight's made her look really good and attractive.

Meanwhile, I had a cape too, but it wasn't a taffeta cape like the ones Twilight and the others had, it was an awesome looking black vampire cape, I liked it.

I was with Spike and listened as he wrote his letter to Princess Celestia.

"_Dear, Princess Celestia_

_Today I learned a great lesson about friendship. Well, you might think that it would feel good to get lots and lots of stuff, but it doesn't feel nearly as good as giving something special to somepony you really care about. But I learned that it's truly better to give than receive, and the kindness and generosity are what lead to true friendship. And that's more valuable than anything in the world." _

Spike then finished the letter before signing his name. "Well…almost anything." He said as he looked at the lipstick kiss mark on his cheek that he had somehow framed.

I raised my eye brow at the sight of it, it was the first time I saw it. "You actually framed that thing?" I asked in awkwardness.

Spike looked up at me. "What?...it's a kiss from Rarity, of course I'm gonna frame it, it's valuable to me." he stated.

I rolled my eyes. "Can you spell _obsessed_?" I asked sarcastically.

Spike gave me a confused look. "Err…how many chances do I get?" he asked innocently.

I then placed my hoof on my face and shook my head, I then removed my hoof and gave him a small smile. "Never mind." I said calmly.

Just then, we heard flapping and we looked in the direction it was coming from to see Jeff and Peewee flying towards us.

They then landed in front of us. "Hey guys, how's things?" Peewee asked.

I smiled down at him. "Great, Spike's back to normal and so is everything else." I said.

Jeff then grew a proud smile. "Awesome, Spike's back to normal. We did a good job." He said.

I raised my eye brow. "We?...you and Peewee didn't do anything to help, where were you guys the whole time?" I asked.

Jeff and Peewee then looked at each other before looking back up to me. "Well…nothin', b-but we watched the library while you were dealing with Spike. That counts as somethin', right?" Jeff asked hoping it did.

Me and Spike looked at each other with narrow eyes before we both groaned in annoyance and walked away from them to join up with Twilight and the others.

Jeff and Peewee watched us go. "Hey, where're you two goin'? Where's the thanks for our good deed?" Jeff called before he and Peewee flew after us.

Me and Spike ignored them as we kept walking towards Twilight and the others, Spike would send his letter to the Princess later.

Today was a crazy day. Spike grew giant and greedy, all of Ponyville was nearly destroy, and to top it off…Rarity has left Spike to wonder if she might be aware of his crush on her.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter and sorry for the long read.**

**See what I did there? In a previous chapter, Rarity found out that Spike was her secret admirer who was sending her all those gifts and poems. And now, she admits to Spike that she knows…sort of. **

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon, merry Christmas :D**


	37. Chapter 37: Bonding with Spike

**MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYPONY :D**

**I've been saving this chapter for this day, that's the reason I haven't updated in a while.**

**I'm glad you all enjoyed the last chapter, I was worried no one would read it because it was too long, I should probably explain why I write long chapters instead of slitting them into parts.**

**You see, I want you to feel as though each new chapter of the story is like a new episode of the show.**

**That's why some are so long, because I write each chapter like an episode of the show itself. And as we all know, not every episode of the show is slit into parts.**

**My parted-chapters were slit into parts because they were important chapters in the story, I hope you understand.**

**But enough of me babbling on like an idiot, time for the chapter, enjoy!**

Chapter 37: Bonding with Spike

It's been 3 days since Spike went on a greedy rampage, everypony in town was busy rebuilding their homes after claiming back their stolen belongings from the cave that Spike put them in.

Luckily, no one knew that the dragon who terrorised the town was Spike. Only the rest of the main 6 knew and they promised to keep it a secret from the towns-folk, so we weren't worried about any angry-mobs coming by.

However, Spike felt really guilty for letting himself get carried away like that and nearly destroying his own home. Even though we told him it wasn't his fault _and_ that none of us were mad at him, he still felt ashamed of himself.

He's also hasn't seen Rarity since it happened. He told me that she may know he has crush on her, he must be nervous about seeing her.

**Ponyville library **

It was a nice sunny day in Ponyville, most of the ponies were rebuilding their houses after Spike wrecked them when he was giant.

I was down stairs in the library. Of course, I wasn't wearing the vampire cape that Rarity made for me anymore, it was in my wardrobe for safety.

I walked across the front room and into the other room to see Twilight sitting on a stool in front of a desk, I figured she was studying. I looked over to the clear patch on the wall, I randomly thought back to when Spike smashed through it to escape the library.

After Spike returned to normal, Twilight used her magic to make the dragon shaped hole in the wall disappear, now it looked as though it never happened.

I then shook off the thought and looked back over to Twilight, she had her back turned to me so she must've noticed me come in.

I walked up behind Twilight and looked down at her work on the desk, she was using her magic to write with a quill. She was also hovering a book beside her, she kept looking back and forth from the book to her work.

"So what you doin'?" I asked curiously.

Twilight was only slightly surprised by me, she turned her head around to face me and smiled. "Oh, just a bit of extra studying, it shouldn't take me much longer now." She stated.

I nodded. "Ok, cool." I said before Twilight turned her attention back to her work.

As I watched her work, a thought came to me. "I wonder where Spike is, I haven't seen him all day." I thought as I looked around the room for him, it proved to be a pointless act because he wasn't in the room.

I then turned my head back to Twilight. "So where's Spike? I haven't seen him today." I said to her.

Twilight turned her head to face me and gave me a troubled look. "He's…kinda been on the roof lately. You know, the balcony on top of the library where the telescope is." She explained.

My ears lowered slightly at this news, Spike had been spending the last few days up on that balcony and we barely see him half the day. "Again? What does he do up there anyway?" I asked.

Twilight shrugged. "I don't know, but I'm really worried about him. He might still feel bad about what happened when he….you know…he took it kinda hard." she stated.

"Should I…should I go up and talk to him? Maybe I could take him out somewhere, we could have a little fun to cheer him up." I suggested.

Twilight then gave me a small smile. "That's a good idea, a little time out of the library should help him." she said.

I smiled back. "Yeah, I hate seeing the little guy so down. I'll go up and talk to him." I said before I turned around and walked towards the door.

"Thanks, Matt." Twilight said sweetly as she watched me leave the room, she then turned her attention back to her work.

After leaving the room, I walked up the flock of stairs that lead to the very top of the library. I continued to walk up the stairs until I came to a door.

I then pushed opened the door and walked into the room. In the centre of the room, there was a long ladder that reached up to a wooden hatch on the ceiling.

Seeing is how I had wings, I didn't need to use the ladder and flew up to the hatch. I pushed it open and looked around to see I had reached the balcony on top of the library.

And standing by the wooden barrier of the balcony, was Spike who was looking through the telescope which was attached to the barrier.

I quietly walked up beside him and looked out at Ponyville, you could really see a lot from the top of the library. I could see everypony walking around in the streets while others were busy repairing their houses.

I then looked down at Spike to see he hadn't noticed me, I then tapped his shoulder with my hoof. "Hey buddy." I said.

Spike jumped in fright at this and quickly turned his head to face me. Once he saw it was me, he exhaled to calm down. "Oh…it's just you, you scared me there." he said.

"Sorry, Spike. What're you doing up here?" I asked.

Spike looked down at the wooden floor and sighed. "Just looking to see how everypony's doing with rebuilding their homes…you know, after I wrecked them." he said slightly sad.

I then wrapped my arm around him to comfort him. "Come on, little bro. It wasn't your fault, you were in a mental state, it happens to everyone." I stated.

Spike looked up at me with a raised eye brow. "Do _they_ turn into a giant destructive monster?" he asked with his arms crossed.

"Well umm…no, not really." I answered; causing Spike to frown. "But I'm gonna help you feel better, we're gonna go out into town and have some fun." I said cheerfully.

Spike gave me an unsure look. "I'm not so sure if that's a good idea, Matt. I think a dragon is the last thing everypony wants to see right now, especially when I was the dragon who nearly destroyed the town." He said.

"But no one _knows_ it was you, they didn't recognise you when you were giant and no one saw you shrink back to normal. It's safe to go out there…you just have to trust me." I said holding him closer.

Spike looked away and twiddled his fingers as he thought about it, he then looked back up to me and I gave him a trustful smile. Spike smiled back before he sighed. "Alright, Matt. We'll go into town." He said.

I smiled with delight at this. "Alright, that's my dragon. Let's go." I said before we both walked over to the hatch and went back down into the library.

Once we made it down to my room, I grabbed my saddle-bags and placed them onto my back before we went down stairs and into the living room. Twilight, Jeff and Peewee were already in there.

Me and Spike then walked up to Twilight. "Hey Twi, Matt's convinced me to go out into town with him." Spike said.

Twilight smiled at this news. "That's great, Spike. If you ask me, I think it'll do you some good to get out of the house for a bit. You haven't stepped food outside since the incident." She said.

Spike rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "Yeah, I know." He said before he looked down at the floor with a worried look.

I noticed this and placed my hoof on his shoulder, he turned his head around to see the warm smile on my face. "It'll be fine, Spike. I'll be with you all the way." I said with a comforting voice.

Spike then smiled up. "Ok Matt, I trust you….lets go." He said.

With that, I lowered my body down to him and he climbed onto my back. I then looked at Twilight.

"We'll be back later, Twi. Love ya." I said sweetly.

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "Love ya too, Matt." she said.

I then gave her a small kiss on the cheek before I made my way towards the front door.

Just then, Jeff flew over to us and landed on top of my head. "Wait, can I come too? I wanna get out for a bit as-well." He said.

I then looked up at him and smiled. "Sure, Jeff. You can come." I said.

"Sweet!" Jeff said cheerfully before I continued to walk towards the door.

"You boys be careful, alright?" I heard Twilight call from behind me.

"Yeah, we'll watch ourselves." I called back without turning my head around, I walked out of the front door with Spike and Jeff before I closed the door behind me; leaving Twilight alone with Peewee.

Twilight then turned her head to face Peewee, he looked up at her. "So, what should we do while they're gone?" he asked.

"Well, I'm still trying to study in the other room, wanna help?" Twilight asked with a hopeful smile.

Peewee was silent, he kept looking back and forth from Twilight to the door to the next room. He then made his decision. "Sure." He said before he flew onto her back.

Twilight smiled at him before she walked towards the other room to continue her studies.

Meanwhile, I was halfway into town with Spike riding on my back. "So where do you want to go first, Spike? It's your choice." I said.

Jeff was still on top of my head as he looked down at my face with a raised eye brow. "Hey, why does _he_ get to choose where we're goin'?" he asked.

I looked up at him. "Because we're out here to cheer him up." I stated.

Jeff was still confused until her realised what I meant, he then rolled his eyes. "Is he still mopin' about that whole _rampagin' dragon_ thing?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I want to help him feel better, so this trip into town is for him." I said.

"Fine." Jeff said before he turned around to face Spike. "So Spike, where do ya wanna go?" he asked as he crossed his wings.

Spike then rubbed his chin as he thought about it. "Well…I've heard there're some new supplies at Sugar Cube Corner, I was kinda hoping to see them at some time." he said.

I turned my head around to face him and smiled. "Alright buddy, we'll go to Sugar Cube Corner and check out these new supplies. That sound good?"

Spike smiled largely as he nodded, my smile grew. "Alright then." I said before I turned my head back around.

I continued to walk through the streets towards Sugar Cube Corner.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle**

Luna was in a large dark room made of stone bricks, she called it her _Brew Room _and it's where she creates her magic potions.

In the centre of the room was a large wooded table, it had loads of things on it like Test-tubes and flasks. But in the middle of the table was a medium sized black brew pot.

Luna was sitting in front of the table looking into the brew pot, she watched as the steaming red water inside it swirled around.

Ever since Luna decided to create the potion, she had been out collecting the ingredients needed to make it until she was finally ready. Now she was halfway through making it. However, she didn't feel proud of herself for making this decision.

Luna used her magic to hover the small brown scroll in front of her as she read the instructions.

"Let's see…_three red glow gems_." Luna read before she hovered three glowing red gems off the table and over the pot before dropping them in, the gems disintegrated in the boiling red water.

Luna then looked back at the scroll. "_One Phoenix feather_." She read before she lifted a long orange phoenix feather off the table and dropped it in the pot, the feather burning in the water which then changed from red to orange.

Just then, there was a flash of light and Discord appeared on the other side of the room, Luna didn't notice as she was too focused on her brew.

Discord was about to say something before he noticed what Luna was doing.

"_One vial of rain water_." Luna read before she hovered a small vial of rain water over the pot and pored it into the boiling water, the water then turned from orange to blue.

Discord raised his eye brow. "What're you doing?" he asked.

Luna went wide-eyed before she quickly turned around to face Discord. Once she saw it was him, she exhaled. "It is just you, Discord. Please tell me, what business brings you here?" she asked after calming down.

Discord then walked over to her. "Well I haven't seen you in some time, so I was just come over to check on you. You know, to see if you were alright." He explained while trying to look passed Luna only for her to block his sight by moving her head left and right.

"Well as you can see, I am perfectly fine. So if you'll excuse me, I have some very important work to get back to." Luna stated as she kept Discord from seeing the brew.

But Discord didn't listen, he kept trying to look passed Luna until he managed to see the brew pot with steam flowing out of it. "What is it you're doing down here anyway?" He asked.

Luna became nervous before she spread her wings out as far as she could to black Discord's sight. "It is nothing." She stated.

Discord gave her a suspicious look before he snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of light, he then reappeared on the other side of the table and looked down at the pot and potion ingredients.

Luna spun around to face him as she became more nervous.

"It certainly doesn't look like nothing, what's going on here?" Discord asked as he crossed his arms.

Luna shifted her eyes back and forth as she tried to think of something. "What should I tell him? I cannot tell him I'm making a love potion, he would tell my sister and she would grow suspicious." She thought as Discord waited for an answer.

Just then, Luna thought of something. "It's a new potion I'm working on." she answered.

Discord gave her a confused look. "A potion? What kind of potion?" he asked curiously.

"I call it a _strength Potion. _You see, this potion increases the drinkers health and strength for the rest of the year. So the effects are temporary, but effective." Luna explained hoping he'd believe her.

Discord stood there in silence, he just stared down at Luna with those big yellow eyes of his. Luna stared up at him sweating slightly with a large nervous smile on her face.

But eventually, Discoed smiled down at her. "That's actually not a bad idea." He said.

After hearing this, Luna calmed down and exhaled. "Really, you think so?" she asked with a small smile.

Discord then looked down into the brew pot. "Oh yes, most definitely. I myself would like to become strong and healthy for the year." He stated.

"Well…umm…I am pleased that you like the idea, Discord." Luna said.

Discord then disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared in front of Luna. "How long will it be until it's ready?" he asked slightly excited.

Luna's smile then faded. "Err…a few months maybe, I have to do a lot of studying and research to be sure I make it correctly. We wouldn't want any rather nasty accidents, would we?" she said.

"Well, that _is_ a concern. Yeah, you hit the books and study more about this potion you're making. And remember to tell me when you're finished, I want the first vial of this potion when it's done." Discord said before he snapped his fingers and a small white card appeared in his talon fingers.

Discord then held it out to Luna. "My card." He said with a grin.

Luna's horn glowed before the white card lifted out of his fingers and she looked at it, she then gave him slightly annoyed look as she sighed.

"This is a photograph of you and Pinkie Pie squirting the citizens of Ponyville with squirt-guns." Luna said as she turning the picture around to Discord to show she was right.

Discord looked down at it. "Sorry, wrong card." He said before he took the picture back and held it up in front of him.

Discord then chuckled. "But you have to admit, that day was kinda funny. Haha, just look at the reaction on everypony's faces. Haha, good times." He said.

Luna just rolled her eyes.

Discord then tapped his chin with his finger. "Now that I think about it, I don't even have a card. Oh well, you know where to find me when you're done." He said as he walked away from Luna with his arms winging back and forth.

Luna watched as he walked away. "Yes, I do. Please, give my sister my regards." She said kindly.

Discord didn't turn his head around as he waved his lion arm. "I will, I will." He said before he stopped walking and turned his body around to face Luna.

Discord gave her a playful wink before he snapped his fingers and disappeared in another flash of light; leaving Luna alone with her bubbling brew pot.

Luna then relaxed. "Thank goodness, I thought he'd never leave." She thought before she turned around to face the brew pot.

"Now where was I?" Luna said to herself before she went back to working on the potion.

She read the next part of the scroll before she hovered a large wooden pole into the bubbling water and gently rotated it around.

**Meanwhile: Sugar Cube Corner **

Me, Spike and Jeff arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, I looked up at the shop to see that the roof was already fully rebuilt.

We then walked into the shop and saw that no one was in front of the counter, so we were alone in the room.

I stopped in the middle of the room and looked around. "So where're these new supplies you mentioned, Spike?" I asked.

Spike looked around as well before he saw the new supplies in a glass case on the other side of the room, he smiled and pointed to them. "They're over there." he said before he jumped off my back and walked towards them.

I then followed him until we reached the case, Jeff jumped off my head and joined Spike. They both looked at the new cakes with awe as they drooled slightly. "They look so good, can we get some?" Spike asked.

I smiled at him. "Sure, I brought my money. Besides, this day is for you, so you can get whichever cake you want." I said.

Spike then looked up at me. "Matt, you don't have to do that. I don't want you to spend your money on me." he said humbly.

I smiled as I placed my hoof on his shoulder. "Hey, this day is all about you. I want you to have the best day ever, so tell me which cake you want and I'll get it." I stated kindly.

Spike gave me a large excited smile before he looked back into the glass case and searched for a cake he'd like, Spike then saw a cupcake with shiny purple frosting on it. "Oh, how about that one?" he said while pointing at it.

I looked to where Spike was pointing and saw the cupcake, I looked back to him and smiled. "Sure thing, Spike. Wait here, I'll go to the counter and ask for it." I said.

I then turned around and walked up to the counter, I tapped the table bell with my hoof and waited for someone to come.

After a few minutes, Mr Cake came out from the kitchen and walked up to the counter. He then smiled at me. "Hello, Matthew. What can I do ya for?" he asked politely.

I smiled back at him. "Hi, Mr Cake. Umm, can I buy one of those new cupcakes from that case over there?" I asked while pointing my hoof over to the glass case where Spike and Jeff were standing in front of.

Mr Cake looked in the direction I was pointing in and smiled. "Sure, in fact you're the first one to buy our new supplies. Do you know what that means?" he asked with a smile.

I shrugged. "No, what?" I asked.

"I'll explain. You see, we like to play a game every time we get new supplies. We haven't sold any yet because they just arrived this morning, and whoever's the first to buy one of the new supplies gets it free of charge." Mr Cake explained.

I was surprised by this, this meant I could get Spike the cupcake and I wouldn't have to pay for it, I couldn't believe my luck. "Really?...Well, that was lucky." I said.

Mr Cake nodded. "Yes it was, now let me get you that cupcake you wanted." He said before he came around the counter and walked towards the case with me following.

Once we reached it, Spike stepped out of the way to let Mr Cake get to the case. "Now which one did you want?" he asked.

Spike then pointed to the cupcake with purple frosting. "That one, please." He said politely.

Mr Cake nodded before he opened the case lid before he grabbed the cupcake with his hoof and brought it out. Mr Cake then closed the lid before he held the cupcake down to Spike. "Here you go, Spike. I hope you enjoy it." He said with a kind smile.

Spike took the cupcake and looked at it with a large smile. "Oh I will, thanks Mr Cake." He said.

"It's my pleasure, Spike." Mr Cake said.

With that, we made our way towards the exit to leave the shop. I looked back at Mr Cake and waved to him. "Thanks again, Mr Cake." I said.

Mr Cake waved back. "You're welcome, Matt. I hope you come back soon." He said as he watched us leave.

After we left the shop, Spike walked beside me as he looked down at the cupcake in his hands. He took a bite out of the top and smiled with satisfaction as he chewed.

"Mmm…this is delicious. Thanks, Matt." Spike muffled with a full mouth.

I smiled down at him. "No problem, Spike. I'm glad you like it, and Mr Cake said it was free because we were the first to buy one of the new supplies." I said.

Spike turned his head around to face me with a surprised look. "Really? That means I got my cupcake while you got to keep your money, how great is that?" he cheered.

I nodded. "Yeah, so where should we go now? The arcade?" I suggested.

Jeff's eyes then widened before he rushed to the top of my head and looked down at my face. "NO! No way, I have too many bad memories about that place, I ain't goin' back there." He said loudly.

I looked up at him with confusion. "Why? Is it because you were put in a cage and used as I prise there?" I asked.

Jeff gave me a small glare. "Did you have to bring that all back up?" he asked.

At that moment, Spike stepped in. "It's ok guys, I didn't really wanna go to the arcade anyway. I was kinda hoping we'd drop by Fluttershy's house and help her with the animals or something." he said with a small smile.

I looked down at him. "Ok, that sounds good. What do you think, Jeff?" I asked looking up at him on my head.

Jeff then rubbed the bottom of his beak as he thought about it. "Hmm…ok, I'm cool with it. Fluttershy gives a mean back rub anyway, and I have some new knots for her." He said as he rubbed his back.

"Ok then, let's go." I said before we made our way towards Fluttershy's cottage while Spike ate the rest of his cupcake along the way.

**Later: Fluttershy's cottage**

After a short walk, we had arrived at Fluttershy's cottage. Spike had finished his cupcake and was now licking the last bit of flavour off his fingers.

"Enjoy your cupcake, Spike?" I asked as I walked beside him.

Spike looked up at me. "Yeah, I loved it. I can still taste it in my mouth." He said before he licked his fingers again.

As we arrived in front of the cottage, I looked over to the chicken pen to see Fluttershy standing inside it.

There was a bucket of grain sitting on the ground beside her, she reached her wing into the bucket and scooped up some grain in her feathers before she sprinkled in onto the ground, her chickens were pecking the grain around her.

"There's Fluttershy, she in the chicken pen." I said, Spike and Jeff looked over to the chicken and saw Fluttershy, we all then headed towards the chicken pen to meet up with her.

Once we reached the chicken pen, me and Spike stood on the other side of the pens fence while Jeff flew off my back and landed down on top of it.

"Hi, Fluttershy." I said loud enough for her to hear me.

My loudness must have been a bit too much for her, because she let out a small eep as she flinched in fright. She then looked over to us and relaxed. "Oh, hello Matt. What brings you here?" she asked in her quiet voice.

"I'm trying to help Spike feel better about what happened when he…you know." I explained.

Fluttershy nodded. "Oh yes, I remember." She said.

"Yeah, and he was wondering if we could help with the animals or something, do you have anything we could do to help?" I asked.

Fluttershy wasn't expecting something like this to happen today, she gave us a slightly surprised look before she thought about it. "Well…umm…I guess you could help me feed the other chickens I have around here…but can you handle chickens?" she asked.

"Are you kidding? I had chickens back in England, I know how them." I said with an amused smirk.

"You had chickens? Did you live on a farm?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

Back in England, I didn't live on a farm, but I lived around farms and there were always some animals to look at. I remember going to visit some sheep while I was walking my black-lab dog called _Harvey_, I always use to give them dog treats. There was also a large white horse that liked dog treats too, it always use to come up to the fence to get some whenever it saw me.

"Urr…I lived on farm _land_, there were a lot of farms where I lived, but I didn't live on one. My chicken pen was in my back garden." I stated.

Fluttershy then smiled. "Well, I guess you could do it then. Oh and by the way, an old friend is here for a visit." She said.

"Really, who is it?" Spike asked.

"_Philomena._" Fluttershy answered.

The sound of that name rang like a bell in my mind, I remembered that phoenix in an instant.

Philomena was Princess Celestia's pet phoenix, she was also a mischievous bird. She and Fluttershy go way back, Fluttershy thought Philomena was ill when she was shedding her feathers and did everything she could to help her, even thought it was meaningless.

Phoenixes shed their feathers because they grow old. Once they lose all their feathers, they burst into flames and rise up from the ashes as a beautifully fresh phoenix. I figured they could live forever with that kind of power.

I gave Fluttershy a surprised look. "Philomena's back?" I asked with a smile.

Fluttershy raised her eye brow. "How do you know Philomena? She's only been in Ponyville once and you weren't here back then." She said.

I then gave her a sly smirk. "I have my ways, so where is she?" I asked.

Fluttershy looked around to try and find her. "She was here a moment ago." She stated.

"Wait, wait, wait, who's Philomena?" Jeff asked curiously.

I then looked at him on the fence. "She's Princess Celestia's pet phoenix, she's also kind of a drama queen." I answered.

"P-P-Phoenix?...S-S-She?..." Jeff stuttered.

Just then, we noticed a large bird shaped shadow fly passed beneath us, Fluttershy noticed it too and looked up at the sky. "Oh, here she is now." She said with a smile.

Me, Spike and Jeff then looked up to the sky to see the beautiful orange, yellow, and red feathered phoenix that I recognized as Philomena, she looked as though he had just renewed herself and was a now fresh phoenix.

I watched in awe as she flew gracefully in the sky. "She's beautiful." I said out loud.

Jeff watched her with wide eyes and his beak hanging open. "…She sure is..." she whispered to himself.

After a moment, Philomena dove down and landed on the fence beside Jeff who continued to stare up at her with more than just awe. Philomena was so much taller than Jeff.

Fluttershy walked up to the fence and smiled up at Philomena, she then looked at me. "Philomena here has been helping me find all my bird friends so they can all eat their food together. Isn't that right, Philomena?"

Philomena then let out a caw with a proud smile. "Whow…she has the bird voice of an angel." Jeff thought.

"Princess Celestia was right, Philomena _is_ a sight, I've never seen a real live phoenix before." I said.

Jeff then looked over to me. "A sight? S-She's more than a sight, she's like super ho-…." He then stopped as he thought about what he was saying.

We all stared at him, including Philomena, waiting for what he would say next. "I mean…she's like super…nice lookin', I mean look at those fiery feathers. I wish I had some like that, these plain old feathers get so dull." He said as he spread his wings out and looked at his feathers.

The moment felt kinda wired at this time. "Okaaay…anyway, do you mind if we help with the chickens?" I asked as I looked back at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy smiled. "Sure, there should be some spare gain buckets over there by the gate." she said as she pointed towards the gate.

Me and Spike then turned our heads to see three buckets of grain sitting by the gate.

I looked back at Fluttershy with a smile. "Ok, thanks Fluttershy." I said before we both walked over to the buckets.

"Just spread some grain around the garden and the birds should come." Fluttershy said as her eyes followed us.

Once me and Spike reached the buckets, Spike picked one up by the handle with his hand, while I picked the other one up by the handle with my mouth.

I then looked over to Jeff who just stood there looking dreamily up at Philomena. "You comin', Jeff?" I muffled with the bucket handle in my mouth.

Jeff snapped out of his trance and turned around to face me. "Huh?...oh…nah, I'm good here. You two just go and have fun." He said as normally as possible.

Me and Spike looked at each other before we looked back over to him. "Ok then." I said before we walked away from the chicken pen with the buckets of grain.

Once we were gone, Jeff looked up at Philomena while she wasn't looking. In his eyes, the sunlight sun beautifully over the female phoenix while her feathers flowed in the gentle breeze.

Jeff stared up at her with his beak hanging slightly. "Whow…I don't think I've ever seen a bird more-" He was cut off from his thought when Philomena turned her head to look down at him.

Jeff was stunned as he stared at her eyes, he laughed nervously before he quickly turned away. Philomena didn't take notice to his strange behaviour and continued to watch us.

"I think we just made a connection." Jeff thought with excitement as he smiled.

Meanwhile, me and Spike were standing in the gardens just next to the chicken pen, we placed the buckets down on the ground before we started throwing the grain on the ground.

I did as Fluttershy was doing earlier, I scooped up some grain in my wing feathers and threw them on the ground. Spike reached his hand into the bucket and grabbed a handful of grain before he too threw it on the ground.

After a few minutes, some chickens and random birds came over to us and started eating the grain. The birds were comfortable with us standing there, some even flew up onto my back while others flew onto Spike's shoulders, Spike hand-fed those birds.

Even though this activity wasn't all that exciting, I could tell that Spike was enjoying it. And that was all I wanted.

"So Spike, how's today been for you so far?" I asked as I threw more grain on the ground.

Spike turned his head to face me. "It's great, Matt. I had a delicious cupcake, saw Philomena again, and now I'm feeding a bunch of birds. I don't know how this day could get better." He said before he threw more grain on the ground.

I then smirked at him. "What if I told you we were gonna go to your favourite donut shop after this?" I said.

Spike gave me an excited look with a large smile. "No way, but that's all the way up in Canterlot." He said.

"If it meant making this your best day ever, I'd go to Fillydelphia." I stated with a warm smile.

Spike smiled warmly back at me. "Wow Matt, I never knew you cared about me that much." He said.

"Of course I do, little buddy. You're one of my best friends, I couldn't stand to see you all sad like you were earlier. I want you to have a good day today, and if you want to go up to your donut shop in Canterlot, then we're going there." I said kindly.

Spike gave me a thankful smile. "Thanks, Matt…I'd like that." He said, we both smiled at each other.

Just then, Spike looked up at something. "Hey, that's one scary looking bird." He said as he pointed at something behind me.

I then turned around and looked up at a tree branch to see a large black crow with red eyes, it stared down at us with what appeared to be a sharp glare.

The crows gaze was enough to frighten away the birds on my back and the one on Spike's shoulders.

"You're right, it does look kinda…mean." I said as I stared up at the dark crow. We just stood there frozen in the crows gaze, wondering what it was thinking and what it would do next.

Spike was the first to act, he slowly reached into his bucket and pulled out a handful of grain. He then slowly held his grain filled hand up to the crow. "Emm…want some, little fella?" he asked nervously.

The crow was still for a moment before it spread out its wings and let out a loud caw, it then shot down towards Spike. Spike reacted in fright by dropping the grain and running away.

Before the crow could chase him, I stepped in front of it and started swinging my hoof at it to shoo it away. "Hey beat it, you crazy animal." I said aggressively.

Somehow, the crow was quick. It dodged every swing of my hoof, I'd never seen a bird move so fast.

I then swung my hoof at it again, only for it to scratch me across my arm with its sharp talons. I let out a small yell of pain as I pulled my arm back, the crow then flew into my face and cawed loudly as it tried to scratch my face.

I grew tired of this annoying battle. "GET THE HELL LOST!" I yelled before I finally managed to grab the crows tail feathers with my mouth and threw it hard against the tree it was on.

It then landed on the ground by the tree and wasn't moving, the smack against the tree must have been hard because it had a large scratch on its beak.

I panted slightly before I lifted my arm up and saw three scratch marks with blood starting seeping out of them, they also started to sting.

Spike then came up behind me with a concerned look. "Are you ok?" he asked.

I turned around to face him with my arms still up. "Yeah, it's just a few scratches…damn crow, how can a bird be that fast?" I asked.

Spike shrugged. "I don't know, I've never seen a bird move that fast before. It's like it knew your every move before you even made them."

I didn't respond because I was too busy thinking about what happened while looking at my injured arm. Why did the crow attack? What did we do to make it attack? It was like…it was possessed.

Just then, Fluttershy came over to us. "Are you two ok over here, I heard a loud racket." He said.

I then turned my head to face her. "I bet there was, one of your crows swooped down and attacked us for no reason, it scratched my arm." I said loudly.

Fluttershy gave me a shocked. "A crow? B-But I don't have a crow, crows usually stay in the Ever Free Forest, they never come here. Are you sure it was a crow?" she asked.

Spike then stepped forward. "Yeah, we're more than sure. It's right over there." he said as he pointed to the tree.

Fluttershy then looked over to the tree before she looked back at us. "Where? I don't see any crow." She claimed.

Me and Spike quickly looked over to the tree to see the crow wasn't on the ground anymore. "It's gone." I said shock.

Spike quickly looked back up to Fluttershy. "The crow was right there by that tree, honest." He said, I looked back to her as well.

"Don't worry, guys. I believe you both, it's just weird how a crow would randomly attack like that." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah, but what freaks me out the most is the fact that demon bird is still out there." I said as I looked around the sky to try and spot the crow.

Fluttershy then looked down at my arms and saw the scratches, she let out a small gasp. "Matt, your arm's bleeding." She said.

I lifted my arm again to see that a small string of blood was now slowly running down my arm, Fluttershy looked closer at it. "Oh you poor thing, let me get you a bandage." She said sweetly.

Fluttershy then trotted back towards her cottage; leaving me and Spike in the garden still slightly shook up from the crows attack.

Meanwhile, Jeff was still trying to avoid eye contact with Philomena. He kept his head turned away from her as he breathed nervously. "Come on, dude…you've talked to a lot of girls in the past…how's this one any different?" he thought.

Jeff then slowly turned his head around to face Philomena before he was once again lost in her beauty, he smiled dreamily up at her as his wings hung numb-lick.

"Ok we get it, she's hot. Just talk to her, bird." Jeff's thoughts said; snapping him out of it.

He then shook off his trance state before he cleared his throat. "Umm…Philomena, right?..." he said looking up at her.

Philomena looked down at Jeff with a curious look, he gulped hard as she stared down at him. "Errr…it's nice to meet you, I-I'm Jeff…maybe Celestia's mentioned me." he said as he held his wing out to her.

Philomena cocked her head in confusion, Jeff's nervous smile faded. "Ok, maybe not. But I should probably tell you about me, I'm Matt's…err…bird buddy. I helped him fight off Thorn when he took over the castle." He explained.

Philomena gave him a surprised look before she took his wing with hers and shook it up and down, she let out a small happy squawk as she did. Jeff smiled greatly as he had hold of her wing.

But it didn't last as Philomena released his wing, which disappointed Jeff. He then looked up at her and smiled. "Ok so far, so good. You've made a good first move, now make your second on….DANG, what is my second move?" he yelled in his mind.

Jeff stood there completely stumped, Philomena didn't feel very comfortable with the random silences. Jeff had to think fast before he loses her attention, he said the first thing about her that came to his mind.

"So…you've got petty feathers…groom much?" Jeff asked nervously.

Philomena looked down at her feathers before looking back at Jeff, she squawks a few times.

"Am I hittin' on you? No, no, I'd never hit on you, why would I?" Jeff asked nervously; gaining a slightly offended look from Philomena.

Jeff quickly realized what he just said and tried to fix it. "I didn't mean that to say you're not attractive, you're a very attractive bird. But you don't look like type that wants to go out right now, especially with a bird as lame as _you_."

Philomena gave Jeff an angered look as she cawed loudly, Jeff realised what he said and almost slipped himself.

"I MEAN ME, a bird as lame as me, not you. You're not lame at all, you're one of the _guys_." He said, he then face-winged himself once he realised the mistake he made again.

Philomena growled as she glared directly into Jeff's eyes, he laughed nervously. "Haha, So…I take it you don't wanna go out with me?" Jeff said nervously.

Philomena responded by spinning around and slapping Jeff across the face with her tail feathers; casing him stumble off the fence and into a mud puddle in the chicken pen below.

Jeff picked himself up in a daze before he shook it off and looked up at the offended phoenix.

Philomena glared down at him before she turned around and huffed with her head up high, she then took off into the sky; leaving Jeff in his muddy state.

Jeff rubbed the cheek she slapped while watching her go. "Well…that didn't go as well as I hoped." he said.

Jeff then heard a noise behind him before he turned his head around to see a chicken staring at him, he gave it a small glare. "What're you lookin' at, chucky?" he said aggressively.

Jeff then grabbed a chunk of mud in his wing and threw it into the chickens face; making it cry out in fright before it ran away with mud on its face.

**Later: Ponyville streets**

After feeding the birds at Fluttershy's place, we were now in the streets walking towards the train station to catch a train to Canterlot.

Fluttershy had wrapped a bandage around my injured arm and it didn't hurt as much anymore.

Spike was walking beside me while Jeff sat on my back. For some reason, we found him in a mud puddle and Fluttershy cleaned him up. We couldn't say goodbye to Philomena because she was gone when we found Jeff.

But the weirdest thing is the fact that Jeff hasn't said a word since we left Fluttershy's place, he was just sitting on my back being quieter than he's ever been, it was kinda worrying.

I turned my head around to face him as I kept walking. "Hey Jeff, do you know where Philomena went? We didn't see her again when we finished." I said.

Jeff then looked at me. "Philomena?...err…I think she said somethin' about goin' back to Canterlot for royal business or somethin'." He lied.

I gave him a confused look. "Royal business? What royal business could a phoenix have?" I asked.

"Well, she is Celestia's pet. I'm sure the Princess needs her to…keep her company." He said.

I raised my eye brow at him. "Company?...with her guards, Discord, and the Diamond Dogs up there with her in the castle?" I said.

"Look I…I just…I don't know, can we drop the conversation about Philomena now? I don't feel very good, I have a woozy stomach." Jeff said in a slightly annoyed tone as he held his stomach.

Spike looked up at him with a concerned look. "Maybe you should go back to the library and take a nap or something." he suggested.

Jeff looked down at him and nodded. "Yeah…yeah, that's probably the best idea. Enjoy the rest of your day, guys. See ya." He said before he flew off my back and headed towards the library.

Spike then looked at me. "I hope he's alright, he's been acting strange since we left Fluttershy's place." He said.

"I know Jeff, he'll take a nap, wake up later in the day, eat a big hot meal, and he'll be right back to normal." I said with confidence.

Spike then climbed onto my back. "I hope you're right, Matt. Jeff may be annoying sometimes, but he's a good friend."

I smiled at him. "I know he is. Now come on, we don't wanna miss the train." I said before I continued walking to the station.

**Later that day: Canterlot/Joe's donut shop**

After a short train ride, we arrived in Canterlot and went to Joe's donut shop. Where of course, I met _Joe the baker_ for the first time.

I've only seen him in the show near the end of _The Best Night Ever_. He was a nice guy, cool too, I liked him.

Me and Spike were sitting by one of the round tables with the cushion seats around it, Spike had a plate full of his favourite donuts and he had already eaten 4 of them. And we've only been there for 10 minutes, the kid loves his donuts.

Spike was now starting his 5th donut, I just watched him with an amused smile. "You sure can keep your donuts down, you could eat donuts for Equestria." I commented.

Spike then gave me a confused look as he chewed the chuck of donut in his mouth. "What's that mean?" he muffled.

"Ah, nothin'. Something I use to say back in England, it's not important. But seriously, you really eat those donuts." I said.

"That's why this is my favourite donut shop, the donuts here are delicious." Spike said.

At that moment, Joe walked up to us while using his magic to hover a cup of hot co-co beside him. "That's because I always do my best to make sure each donut is perfect down to the last detail." He stated proudly as he placed the cup down on the table for Spike.

Spike smiled at him. "And you never fail." He said.

"Thanks Spike, let me know if you want any more." Joe said before he walked back to the counter.

Spike then took another bite out of his donut before he looked back to me. "Wanna try a donut, Matt? They're really good." He said.

I shook my head. "No thanks, I'm fine. You enjoy them, and if you want more, just ask and I'll get them for ya." I said kindly.

After a minute, Spike finished his donut before he sighed and looked at me again. "Matt, I know why you're doing all this for me, I know what today's been about. You're trying to make me feel better after what I did when I became greedy and huge, but the question I wanna ask is…why?"

I then gave him a caring look. "Because I want to help you, Spike. I told you at Fluttershy's place, I don't like it when you're upset. You're my friend Spike, I care a lot about you. I just wanted you to be happy again." I stated.

"So you took me out into town and offered to spend your own money to buy me things that I liked to make me feel better? You did all of this to make me happy again? To have what you call, _the best day ever_?" Spike said with a raised eye brow.

I nodded. "Yeah…h-hasn't it been?" I asked slightly worried that he had not enjoyed the day as much as I thought he had.

Spike was silent for a moment until he smiled warmly up at me. "Of course it has, I _have_ had the best day ever." He stated cheerfully.

I was relieved by this news. "That's great, Spike. I knew you would. I mean with the cupcake, the bird feeding, and finally a trip to your favo-"

"What're you talking about? It hasn't been my best day ever because of all those things. I don't care about the cupcake, the bird feeding, or even these donuts…it's been my best day, because you've show how much _you_ care about _me_." Spike said with a warm smile.

I smiled warmly back at Spike. "I mean yeah, Twilight cares a lot about me too, she's like my big sister and she loves me. But I've always wondered what it'd be like…if I had a brother too. And you're…kinda like…my big brother." Spike said as he rubbed the back of his head.

I felt heart warmed by this, Spike saw me as a brother figure. I too have wondered what it would be like to have a brother, and I also saw Spike as a brother, he was like my little brother figure.

I moved closer to him and wrapped my wing around him to pull him closer to me. "You're like a brother to me too, Spike, a little one….and….I love you like one. You're like the brother I never had…and I'll always be here for you." I said sweetly.

With that, Spike wrapped his arms around me as he hugged me, I then hugged back. "I'm so glad Twilight's marrying you." he said as he hugged me tight.

I smiled down at him before we broke the hug. "I should probably finish these donuts and then we'll head on home, we don't wanna get back too late. Right, buddy?" Spike said.

"Buddy? Oh, we're not friends." I said.

Spike's smiled then went away as he wondered what I meant by that, I then gave him a loving smile as I placed my hoof on his shoulder. "We're brothers." I said.

Spike's smile returned before we shared another brotherly hug. "And by the way…I love you like a brother too." Spike said as we hugged.

The moment was too touching for me to handle, small tears of happiness formed in my eyes as I hugged my 'little brother'

**That night: Ponyville library**

After another short train ride, Spike and I returned to Ponyville and had finally arrived back at the library.

Spike was so tired on the way back that he had fallen asleep on the train. Not wanting to disturb him, I carefully carried him back to the library. He snored soundly as he curled up on my back.

After I quietly entered the library and closed the door behind me, I tip-hooved up the stairs to see Twilight lying on her stomach on the bed, she was reading a book with the bed-side table lamp on.

As I walked towards Spike's basket, Twilight noticed me. "Matt, there you are. When you said you were taking Spike out for the day, I didn't actually think you meant the _whole_ day." she said with a raised eye brow.

I smiled at her. "Yeah…anyway look, Spike fell asleep on my back on the way home." I said as I turned my body to show Spike sleeping on my back.

Twilight smiled sweetly. "Aww, that's so adorable. You should put him to bed in his basket." She said.

I nodded before I looked down at his basket to see Jeff and Peewee sound asleep in it, I looked back at Twilight. "A little help, please."

With that, Twilight's horn glowed and Spike gently lifted off my back and was placed softly in the basket with Jeff and Peewee. Spike, Jeff and Peewee now had their heads on the pillow.

Twilight then used her magic to lift up the blue blanket and tucked them in.

I watched Spike as he slept in his basket, he looked so peaceful under his covers and his head on the soft pillow. It made me so desperate to relax in my own bed with Twilight, so I did.

As I walked towards my side of the bed, Spike slowly woke up. "Huh?...Matt?...we're are we?" he asked half asleep.

I tuned my head around to face him. "We're back in the library. You should go back to sleep, you're very tired." I said kindly.

Spike then nodded. "Alright, Matt. Goodnight, big bro." he said before he lied back down in his basket.

I smiled warmly at him. "Goodnight, little bro." I said before I turned my head back around and continued to walk to the bed.

Once I reached it, Twilight jumped off so we could both get under the covers. When we were in the bed, Twilight looked at me. "Did he just call you his big bro?" she asked.

In looked at her and nodded. "Yeah, we had a bit of a touching moment today. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, I'm kinda tired." I said.

Twilight then nodded. "Ok, Matt. I look forward to hearing it. Goodnight, love you." she said before she lied her head down on her pillow.

"Love you too, Twi. Goodnight." I said before I did the same and lied my head down on my pillow.

As I drifted to sleep, I couldn't help but think about my day with Spike and how much stronger our connection has now grown.

But unknown to me, the black crow from earlier was standing outside the window, it glared sharply at me as I slept before it turned around and flew away into the night.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle **

Luna had spent the whole day in her Brew Room, she worked as hard as she could to make sure the potion was 100% perfect and to make sure it wouldn't cause any unwanted problems.

The bubbling water in the brew pot was now a dark red colour, it swirled around in the pot as Luna used her magic to rotated the large wooden pole around in the thick liquid.

Luna then lifted the wooden pole out and placed it down on the table before she read the last part of the scroll. "Now for the finale ingredient to complete it." She said to herself.

Luna levitated a group of small green leaves in front of her, she used her magic to then pluck one of the leaves off and hover it above the pot. "_One mistletoe leaf_." She said.

With that, Luna dropped the mistletoe leaf into the bubbling water and it disintegrated inside it. The water in the pot then turned from red to pink before releasing a puff of pink steam.

Luna watched in awe as the pink steam rose up in the air and formed into the shape of a heart, it then vanished in the air.

After that, Luna looked down at the small fire under the pot and put it out by waving one of her wings at it; causing the water to stop bubbling.

Luna looked down at the sparkling pink water before her horn glowed and a test-tube hovered over to her, she then dove it down into the potion and scooped up enough of it to fill the test-tube.

Luna lifted the test-tube out of it to see it was full of the pink love potion, she then hovered a cork over to the test-tube before she shoved the cork into the top to make sure none of the potion could spill out of it.

With that final act, it was done, the love potion was finished.

Luna held it in front of her with her magic as she stared at it, the potion inside the test-tube started to glow. Despite being proud of her victory over creating the potion, Luna felt a wave of guilt as she thought about what she would do next.

Luna's ears lowered as she hung her head and sighed, she then looked back up at the pink glowing test-tube in front of her.

"Just one hour…that's it, just an hour. Then I will move on and let Matthew carry on his life with Twilight Sparkle…no one will ever have to know." Luna said to herself.

Luna continued to stand there in the dark room staring at the love potion she had made.

But the question that rattled her mind was…will the plan work? Or fail and risk losing her friendship with the ponies she cares for most?

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Don't worry about Luna, she'll get something surprising in the next chapter, trust me.**

**In the next chapter, I'll tell you my top 10 best presents that I will get today. The present that will be number 1 will be my favourite, what will it be? We'll find out in the next chapter. **

**Plus, I may take a little break from writing to play my new games. But don't worry, this story will continue. I'm even halfway through completing chapter 38.**

**Please remember to review!**

**Merry Christmas everypony and I hope you enjoy your day, I wish the best to you all :D**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	38. Chapter 38: Luna's love potion

**HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome back, everypony :D**

**As I promised, I will now tell you my top 10 Christmas presents I got for Christmas.**

**10: A Bud Abbott & Lou Costello (DVD)**

**9: Predator, 2 film collection (DVD)**

**8: Transformers Dark of the Moon (DVD)**

**7: Men in black 3 (DVD)**

**6: Skyrim (PS3)**

**5: Assassins Creed 3 (PS3)**

**4: Skylanders giants, plus figures (Xbox 360)**

**3: Prototype 2 (PS3)**

**2: Batman Arkham city, GOTY edition (Xbox 360)**

**And finally my favourite present. 1: My little pony friendship is magic, Season 1 (DVD)**

**Feel free to tell me your favourite present in your review, now on with the chapter.**

Chapter 38: Luna's love potion 

It's been 2 days since I gained a brotherly bone with Spike, we've been doing a lot of things together recently. Alongside Jeff, Spike's been coming with me to work so he could help.

I can tell by the look on her face that Twilight was happy about our new bond, she even wrote a friendship report to Princess Celestia saying how the best of friends can become closer like a family.

To be perfectly honest, I couldn't ask for a better little brother than Spike. I truly did have a heart for this little dragon.

Jeff on the other hoof, hasn't been acting himself lately. He's taken a huge sudden interest in phoenixes, he's even started to read a book about them, which shocked me and Twilight because we've never seen him even pick up a book before

**Luna's castle**

It was the middle of the night, Luna was in her bed quarters lying on her stomach on her bed. She just lied there staring at the test-tube full of the glowing pink love potion lying in front of her.

"I still cannot believe I went along with it, I have created the thing that could cause my friendship with Matthew to collapse into pieces…I'm starting to wonder if this was such a good idea after all." Luna thought as she continued to stare at the pink test-tube.

Luna then thought about how lonely her life has been without anyone to love, how she wondered what it would feel like to gain a kiss from the colt she loved.

Luna smiled weakly. "Although, it would be nice to have a little personal time with Matthew. He won't remember anything once the potions effects ware off anyway, he'll never know I did anything. I get to have some time with him, and I get to keep my friendship with him. It's perfect." She cheered in her mind.

Luna then jumped off the bed and picked up the potion with her magic, she walked over to her make-up desk and opened a drawer.

Luna looked in the drawer to see the black rose that Zelga had given her the same night she gave her the potion recipe.

Luna gently placed the potion beside the black rose and closed the drawer.

"I cannot do it now, it is far too late. Tomorrow afternoon will possibly be the right time to go." Luna said to herself as she turned around and walked back over to her bed.

Luna then crawled into her bed and used her magic to pull the covers over her, she rested her head on the soft blue billow and closed her eyes to sleep.

As she drifted into her sleep, she thought about the potion and what she was going to do tomorrow. She didn't know whether to be excited about discovering what love feels like, or ashamed for going through with this plan.

These questions would trouble her until she would fall asleep and get lost in her dreams.

**Meanwhile: Ponyville library**

While everyone was asleep in the library, I was in the guest room lying on my stomach on the bed while reading another Daring Do book.

It was very interesting and exciting, this _Ahuizotl_ guy was a right piece of work.

Just then, I heard the door on the other side of the room creek open. I turned away from the book to see Twilight walk into the room with a sweet smile on her face, I smiled back at her. "Hey, Twi. What're you doing?" I asked.

Twilight walked up to the bed. "I was just coming in the check on you. Although I wasn't expecting to find you in here, you haven't been in this room in a long time." She said.

"Yeah well, I wanted to have a little read of this book and it was kinda hard to do that with Spike and the others snoring away." I said with a smile.

Twilight raised her eye brow. "Having a little late-night read, huh? You're becoming more like me every day." She said with a smirk.

"Oh, fantastic." I joked sarcastically.

Twilight understood my joke and giggled. "Mind if I join you?" she asked.

My smiled grew before I moved over a bit for her to climb onto the bed with me. "Sure, Twi." I said.

Twilight then climbed onto the bed and lied down on her stomach beside me, we both moved as closely as we could together to share our comfort. I wrapped one of my wings around her and pulled her even closer.

These days, my love for Twilight felt stronger. It wasn't long now before our wedding day, all our friends in Ponyville were talking about it.

"So what is this book you're reading anyway?" Twilight asked as she looked down at the book lying in front of us.

"It's a Daring Do book. This one's really cool, it has all these intense booby-trap moments and this Ahuizotl guy is one really tricky ass-hole, he's causing all this trouble just to stop Daring from getting this…." I trailed off from my sentence when I noticed Twilight staring at me dreamily.

I smiled as I chuckled. "What? Did I say something?" I asked.

"I was just looking at your eyes, they're just so…blue." Twilight said.

I smirked at her. "Well you have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen. You're the cutest, smartest, and most beautiful girl in all of Equestria." I said sweetly.

Twilight smiled as she blushed, she turned her head away to hide it. "You're just saying things now. You're joking again, right?" She said still blushing.

I smiled as I placed my hoof on her cheek and slowly turned her head back around so I could look into her eyes, I shook my head. "No, I wasn't joking. You know why?...because it's the truth." I said with a warm smile.

We both smiled lovingly at each other before we moved in closer and shared a passionate kiss, my heart started to pound at the feeling of it.

After a few more seconds, me and Twilight separated and smiled at each other.

However, this time was different. Once we looking back into each other's eyes, we were both overwhelmed by a feeling that was pulling us back towards each other. I couldn't explain it, I had never felt this way before, it was like I couldn't stop my head from moving towards Twilight's face.

We stared wide-eyed at each other. "I…err…maybe we should slow down a bit…I think we're getting a bit too carr-"

"Matt." Twilight said interrupting me.

"…Yeah?…" I said in a faint whisper.

Twilight then gave me a loving look with a small smile. "Stop talking." She said with her snout right in front of mine.

With that, we connected into a deep kiss again. We both blushed deeply as we thought about where this might lead.

After two minutes, we sat up on the bed as we continued to kiss. We started to move faster, the feeling was over incredible.

Suddenly, I felt Twilight move backwards. I didn't want to separate from this great feeling so I moved with her to stay connected.

Twilight lied her back on the bed with her head on the pillow, I was on top of her as we kept kissing lovingly. I had to admit, this was the best kiss me and Twilight had ever shared.

Our tails managed to wrap together as I tried my best to keep my wings from flapping like crazy. Twilight wrapped her arms around the back of my head to keep me in place, not like I wanted to go anywhere.

But finally, me and Twilight broke the kiss to breathe. "Matt…I love you…" Twilight said between breaths.

"I love you too…Twi." I said also between breaths.

It wasn't long before we caught our breath and continued to kiss with extreme passion. As we did, we rolled over on the bed so Twilight was now on top of me with my arms around her head and her hooves on my chest.

As we kissed, Twilight felt a sudden urge in her mind. One of her hooves began to move its away down my body.

I felt this before my eyes shot open and I quickly pulled away, Twilight opened my eyes too as she wondered what she did that caused me to stop. "What's wrong?...did I do something?" she asked.

I didn't answer as I looked down my flat body to see her hoof on my stomach, she looked down and saw where her hoof was and quickly removed it.

"Sorry, Matt…I don't know what got into me." Twilight said as she wondered how her hoof got there.

I then looked back up at Twilight. "Twi…maybe we should stop now." I said.

Twilight gave me a wondering look. "Stop?...but why? Weren't you enjoying it?" she asked indecently.

"Of course I was, it was the best kiss you and I have ever had. It's just I know where your hoof was going and…I think we're moving a bit too fast." I said.

Twilight thought about it for a minute and blushed hard once she realised what I meant. "Oh…so, you don't want to…_do it_…with me?" she asked slightly upset.

I leaned up on the bed which forced Twilight to step off me, I then pulled her into a hug. "…Don't be silly, of course I want to _do it_ with you…it's just I don't feel ready for that stage yet, especially when we're not even married yet." I said.

Twilight then hugged me back. "So when do you think you'll be ready?" she asked.

"…I think it'll feel more right if we do it sometime after we're married…I'll be ready then." I said softly.

I then felt Twilight nod on my shoulder. "Ok Matt, we'll do it after we're married…if you want to, that is." She said.

"Trust me, I'll want to." I said.

Me and Twilight then separated and smiled at each other. "Well…we should probably get to bed, it's kinda late." Twilight said.

"Or…we could just stay in here for tonight. You know, where we can be alone." I said with a sly smiled as I lied back down on the bed.

Twilight knew what I meant and giggled. "Alight then." She said before she lied down with me.

We cuddled each other as we closed our eyes to sleep. We didn't even need the cover over us, our combined body heat was enough to warm us through-out the rest of the night.

**The next day**

It was early in the afternoon and while I was out with Jeff and Spike making my deliveries around town, Twilight and Peewee stayed at the library.

Peewee watched from a table as Twilight trotted around the room with a cheerful smile on her face, she was humming to herself as she used her magic to organize some books.

"You're in a cheerful mood today, aren't you?" Peewee asked as Twilight trotted passed him.

Twilight didn't face him as she continued to re-shelf some books. "Sorry Peewee, I just feel so lively today. Matt and I had a really good night, it was so…enchanting." She said with a twinkle in her eyes.

Peewee raised his eye brow. "Enchanting…right, so I guess you two finally…you know…" he said.

Though Twilight was still in her love-struck state, she realised what Peewee was saying and her eyes shot wide open; causing her to lose her focus and drop some books onto the floor.

Twilight then turned her head around to face Peewee and blushed. "Oh no, we haven't reached that stage…_yet_…we nearly did, but we decided to wait until after we're married."

Peewee then gave her a proud smile. "Good move, Twilight. I know you two might feel tempted, but the best time to do it is sometime after you're married, it just feels right that way."

Twilight gave him a small smile. "Yeah, that's kinda like what Matt said last night. He said he wanted to do it, but he didn't feel ready." She said.

"Well don't worry, Twilight. You two will get your chance, it's not like he gave you a precise no, it's just…not time yet." Peewee said trying to help her.

Twilight gave him a thankful smile. "Thanks, Peewee. But I'm ok with the decision we made, I didn't really feel ready for it either. I was probably just rushing things. Anyway, can you help me with the books in the other room? Just until Spike gets back." she said.

Peewee smiled before he flew off the table and landed on Twilight's back. "I'd be happy to." He said.

Twilight returned the smiled before she walked into the other room with Peewee and closed the door behind her.

Meanwhile outside the library, there was a flash of light and Luna appeared in front of the front door. She looked around and was thankful to see that no one noticed her arrival.

Luna was wearing a dark blue saddle-bag with her moon cutie mark symbol on the on it, she was keeping the potion inside it. "Alright, nice and easy." She said to herself as she approached the door.

Once she was close enough, Luna's horn glowed and the front door of the library slowly opened, she was doing it very careful to make sure she wasn't noticed by anyone who may be inside.

Once the door was wide enough, Luna poked her head inside and looked around the front room to see that no one was inside. "No one is here, they must have gone out into the town. This is the perfect time to plant the potion in a place where Matthew can see it." she said to herself.

With that, Luna slowly opened the door all the way and walked into the library. She looked around the front room to find a place to plant the potion, that's when she saw the table with the wooden horse head standing in the middle of it.

Luna walked up to it and saw that despite the horse head, the table had much more room to spare. "This will do nicely." She thought.

Luna then turned her head around and looked down at her saddle-bag, he horn glowed before the saddle-bag unfastened itself and the potion lifted out of it.

Luna looked back at the table, there was a small flash of light on the side of the table and a small glass cup appeared. The potion then hovered over to the glass before the cork on top of it glowed and popped off; allowing pink steam to escape from the test-tube.

Luna gave the potion one last look before she let out a sigh. "…I am sorry, Matthew…" she whispered to herself with shame.

Luna then took a deep breath before she closed her eyes tightly and looked away from the potion, she didn't want to see her doings.

As she did, the test-tube hovered above the glass before it slowly leaned over and the potion poured out into the glass until the test-tube was empty and the glass was full.

Luna turned her head back around and opened her eyes to see the deep was done, she then tapped her chin with her hoof as she thought about what was missing. "Hmm…how do I get him to drink this without actually having to ask him?" she asked herself.

After a second, Luna got an idea. Her horn glowed again and a small sheet of paper and a quill appeared in front of her, she used her magic to write something onto the paper before she placed the paper beside the potion on the table. She then made the quill disappear.

And with that final act, she was satisfied.

Luna smiled weakly. "Perfect, now I must leave before anyone returns." She said before she made her way towards the door and slipped out of the library.

"Well that went better than I had exsp-" Luna stopped in her sentence as she heard voices coming towards her.

"Oooh, how much further?" she heard Spike's voice say as he came around the corner with Me and Jeff walking with him.

Luna began to worry. "Oh no, it is Matthew…I cannot let him see me." she said to herself before she looked around for a place to hide.

Luna then looked up at the library, she spread out her wings and gave one hard flap before she shot up the library.

Luna flew up and (seeing how the library was a big tree) hid within the leaves. She stuck her hooves through the leaves and spread them apart so she could looked down at us.

I walked towards the library with Spike walking beside me and Jeff on my back, we were glad to finally be back at the library.

Spike saw the library up ahead and smiled. "Finally, we're home. I need a rest, today was a long day." he said as he walked beside me.

I looked down at him. "Yeah, I could use a rest myself. How about you, Jeff?" I asked, I didn't get an answer. "Jeff?" I said as I turned my head around to see Jeff was asleep on my back while snoring.

"Well, that answers that question." I said before I turned my head back around and kept walking towards the library.

Once I reached the front door, I pushed it opened and walked inside with Spike before I closed the door, not knowing that Luna was watching me from above.

"Alright, I'll just stay here and wait until he drinks it. I'll check on him every few minutes to make sure." Luna said to herself as she continued to hide in the leaves.

Meanwhile, I walked up the stairs while Spike went into the kitchen. Once I got to the top of the stairs, I looked around to see that Twilight wasn't up here, she must've been in another part of the library.

I walked up to the right side of my bed before I leaned my body against it, Jeff then rolled off my body and onto the soft bed without waking up.

With him taken care of, I smiled down at him before I turned around and walked away from the bed.

I then walked back down the stairs to try and find Twilight, I got to the bottom of the stairs and was about to begin my search for Twilight before something caught my attention.

There was a small glass of thick pink liquid sitting on the table that had the large wooden horse head standing in the middle of it, I wondered what it could be before I walked over to it to investigate.

Upon reaching it, I noticed a note lying beside the glass. I looked down into the glass before I turned my attention to the note and started reading it.

"_Dearest Matthew._

_In honour of your brave actions and helping me to move on, I reward you with this early wedding gift. You may have noticed the glass of liquid sitting before you, this is a potion which will keep you very strong and healthy through the rest of the year. I hope this is to your liking._

_Sincerely yours: Princess Luna."_

After I finished reading, I looked at the potion with wonder. Would it really keep me healthy for the rest of the year? "Well….she did say it was an _early_ present." I said to myself.

I brought my nose above the potion and gave it a good sniff, the aroma from the potion smelled like sweet strawberries and fresh rain water, it smelled wonderful.

After smelling it a few more times, I was ready to drink. "Bottoms up, I guess." I said before grabbed it with both front hooves before I placed the edge of the glass on my mouth and slowly leaned the bottom of the glass upwards.

But just before the pink liquid could touch my upper lip. "Matt, is that you?" Twilight voice called from the other room.

I then removed the glass from my mouth and looked over to the door to the other room. "Yeah, I'm home." I said loud enough for her to hear me.

"Oh good, could you come in here and help me with some books? Peewee's trying to help by carrying them one by one up to their shelves and I don't think he can do it for much longer." Twilight's voice called again.

"She's right, my talons aren't strong enough to carry these things…I can't hold…any…AHH." Peewee's voice cried before I hear a hard thud on the floor. "I'm ok." He called.

After hearing this, I figured I should go in and help them. So I placed the potion back down on the table.

"Coming." I called as I walked over to the door to the other room and went inside, I closed the door behind me before I saw Twilight on the other side of the room with a bunch of books floating around her.

I looked around for Peewee, but I couldn't see him. "Where's Peewee?" I asked while looking at Twilight.

"I'm under here." a voice muffed, I looked down to see an open book lying open on the floor. I flipped the book over with my hoof to find Peewee lying on his back.

"Thanks." Peewee said as he leaned up off the floor.

I smiled down at him. "How about you let us do the work? Take the load off for a while." I suggested.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that." Peewee said, I then stuck out one of my wings and lowered it down for him to climb up onto my back.

Once Peewee was on my back, I folded my wing back up and walked over to Twilight to begin helping her.

Meanwhile, Jeff slowly woke up and leaned up on the bed before he stretched his wings up. "Umm…that was a good bird nap." He said.

As Jeff stood up on the bed, he noticed his mouth was dry and he didn't like it. "Ah…dry mouth, I should get a drink or somethin' to wet my whistle." he thought before he flew off the bed and down the stairs.

As Jeff flew across the living room, something caught his attention. He saw the potion sitting on the table and swooped down to it before landing beside it on the table.

Jeff eyed the potion with wonder. "Well this is new, I wonder what this is." He said to himself as he walked up to the glass.

Jeff then took a whiff of the potion. To him, it smelt like spring-time fresh air and sweet mangos. Obviously the potion smelled differently to whoever smelled it. Jeff smiled at this smell.

"Whow, this stuff smells good. Where'd this come from anyway?" Jeff asked himself.

Just then, Jeff noticed the note lying on the table before he picked it up in his wings. He then held it up in front of him before he started reading it in mumbles.

"Dearest Matthew…(Mumbles)…blah, blah, blah, whatever." Jeff said before he threw the note down on the table and grabbed the glass with his wings. "As long as it's drinkable, it's cool with me." he stated.

With that, Jeff held the glass up before opened his beak wide and tipped the glass; causing the potion to pour out into his mouth and he drank every last drop before it was all gone.

Just then, the door slowly opened and Luna poked her head through.

"I should check if Matthew has drunk the potion yet, I don't want to risk the chance of him seeing another female other than me." Luna thought before she looked to where she left the potion and gasped at what she saw.

Jeff was gulping down the last bit of the potion, Luna slammed the door wide open. "NO! Don't drink that!" she yelled.

But it was too late, Jeff drunk the last drop before he placed the empty glass back down on the table and let out a loud belch. He then noticed Luna standing in the doorway before his eyes widened.

In Jeff's eyes, small lights twinkled around Luna's body like small stars. Jeff's wide-eyed stare soon turned into a dreamily one. "You know, Luna…I've never noticed how beautiful your mane was…" he said.

"…Oh dear…" was all Luna could respond.

Luna then walked further into the library as she tried to think of a way to fix this. "This is bad, this wasn't supposed to happen. I can't just leave him like this for a whole hour, Matthew will find him and easily discover his odd behaviour. And he'll surely mention my name and Matthew will become suspicious…I have to do something about this." She thought.

"Listen, you must get a hold of yourself….errr….Jeff, correct?" Luna asked.

"Jeff, bird-brain, feather head, call me whatever you like." Jeff said as he looked at her dreamily.

"Yes, well…young Jeff, you have to come with me." Luna said.

A large smirk then grew on Jeff's face. "Takin' me somewhere private already, huh? Ain't we goin' a bit fast here?" he asked.

Luna knew what he meant and almost gagged at the very thought. "No, that is not what I meant. I need to keep you away from Matthew for an hour, you are under the influence of a love potion, I don't think you even know what you are doing." she stated.

"Why so serious? You really need to have some fun, Lulu." Jeff said with a smirk.

"…What did you just call me?" Luna asked with a raised eye brow.

"It's cute right? Just like you." Jeff said before he flapped his wings and flew up into the air. Once he was in mid-air, he started to hover towards Luna.

Luna became both worried and nervous by the sight of this. "W-What are you doing?" she asked.

"Just gettin' a better view of those sparklin' eyes of yours." Jeff said as he came closer to Luna.

The closer Jeff came, the more uncomfortable Luna felt. She didn't want to know what he was going to do if he got any closer, so she ran under him and galloped across the library.

Jeff turned around to see Luna on the other side of the room before he grinned. "Oh, baby-girl wants to play hard-to-get? Ok, I'll play." He stated before he shot towards her.

Meanwhile, I was stacking the last few books on the shelves while Twilight did the same on the other side of the room.

I then stacked the last book I had before I examined my work. "Perfect, all the books are back where they belong." I said proudly.

Twilight used her magic to stack her last book before she turned her head around to face me. "And about time too, I thought we'd never get it done." She said.

Just then, Peewee flew onto Twilight's back. "Well it's done now, no thanks to Spike or Jeff." He stated with his wings crossed.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, where are those two anyway?" I asked.

At that moment, Spike burst through the door. We all looked over to him. "Well I did ask." I said to out loud.

Spiked seemed to have a panicky look on his face. "Guys, you gotta come in here quick." He said loudly.

"Why? What's going on?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Well, I was walking into the living room when I saw Jeff and-" Spike couldn't finish his sentence as we all heard a loud crash in the front room. Spike then narrow eyes. "I think it's best if you see it for yourselves." He stated.

With that, we all walked towards him to see what was going on in the front room. Once we reached the doorway, I was surprised by what I saw.

I saw Jeff flying in font of Luna who was using her magic to swing a chair at him, Jeff quickly dodged every swing but he just kept trying to reach her. "Away! Away, you foul bird." Luna yelled.

"Oh c'mon, sweetness. This is no way for a first date to go down." Jeff said as he dodged a number of Luna's swings.

Our mouths hung at the sight of this before I decided to step in. "Luna? Jeff? What's going on in here?" I yelled.

Luna heard me and turned her head to face me, her eyes widened as she tried to think of an excuse for what was happening. "Oh…hello, Matthew…err…I can explain." She said.

Luna was so focused on what she was trying to say, that she lost the focus she had on the chair and it fell to the floor; allowing Jeff to finally reach her.

Luna was caught off guard by Jeff wrapping his wings around her neck. Luna shoved her hoof between him and her neck before she tried to push him off, but he had a tight grip.

Twilight then turned her head to face me. "What's Jeff doing? Doesn't he know who she is?" she asked with panic.

I turned my head to face her. "Well, what do I do?" I asked.

"Help her!" Twilight answered loudly.

I nodded before I rushed over to the struggling Luna and grabbed Jeff with my hooves, I then tried to pry him off Luna while she was continued to trying and push him off. "Come on, Jeff. Let go already." I said.

After a few seconds, Jeff couldn't hang on anymore and released Luna; causing me to fall back onto my ass with Jeff in my hooves.

Jeff started to flap his wings and kick his legs as he tried to break free from them. "Let go of me! I know what you're after, you want her for yourself. You can't have her, you hear me? SHE'S MINE!" Jeff yelled in anger.

I was both shocked and confused by what he said. "Jeff, what the hell are you talking about? I'm not after Luna, what's gotten into you?" I asked.

"Love, that's what's gotten into me." Jeff yelled before he bit my hoof; causing me to yell in pain. He kept biting down until I couldn't take it anymore and released him.

Now free, Jeff quickly flew towards Luna with a determined smile.

But before he could reach Luna, a force suddenly stopped him inches away from her face. Jeff turned his head around to see Twilight walk towards him with her horn glowing, she must've had him in her magic lock.

Jeff squirmed in mid-air as he tried to break free from her magic. "Let me go! I want Luna, I need Luna!" he yelled.

"Well she doesn't want _you_, so give up." Twilight said in a firm voice.

Jeff gave her a glare. "Never." He stated before he continued to squirm in the air.

While Twilight was handling Jeff, I looked down at my hoof no mark or blood. I shook off the last of the pain before I join up with Twilight and looked up at Jeff. "What's wrong with him, he's never been like this before." I stated.

Luna then stepped forward. "It isn't his fault, he cannot control himself….he's…he's under the influence of a love potion." she stated.

I looked at her with confusion. "Love potion? Where'd he get love potion from?...and how come you're here?" I asked.

Luna's ears then lowered as she bit her bottom lip nervously, he plan had gone horribly wrong.

But she couldn't lie anymore, Jeff was under the spell and we wanted an explanation. Luna hung her head as she let out a sigh. "I'm here because…I planted the love potion in this room, I'm the reason Jeff drank it." she admitted.

Me and Twilight were surprised by this. "You?...but why? Why would you leave love potion here?" I asked.

Luna hesitated to answer, but the game was up and she had lost. "Because…it was meant for you…I…I tried to use a love potion on you." she admitting with her head still hanging.

I was shocked, but my face didn't show it. I couldn't believe what she had just told me, she tried to use love potion on me. Twilight was as shocked as I was, I could only imagine how she felt about this.

"You…tried to use a love potion on Matt?…Luna, why would you do this? He's my fiancé." Twilight stated.

Luna looked over to her. "I know, but I can explain everything. Just give me a chance, please." She begged.

The look on Luna's face told me that she was upset by this, I didn't want to upset her any further so I nodded. "Ok…ok, we'll talk in a minute. Right now, we have to figure out how to fix Jeff." I said calmly.

"He'll be fine, the effects of the potion are temporary. Just lock him up for an hour and he should return to normal." Luna stated.

I nodded to say I understood, I then turned my head to face Twilight. "Take Jeff upstairs and lock him in the guest room, that should hold him until he turns back to normal." I said.

Twilight nodded before she turned around and walked towards the stairs with Jeff floating behind her. "Hey, where're you takin' me? Luna's over there." Jeff said as he pointed at Luna.

As she approached the stairs, Twilight turned her head around to Jeff. "You're not seeing Luna, you're getting a time-out." She said in a firm voice before she turned her head back around and went up the stairs.

"Stop hatin' our love!" Jeff said as Twilight reached the top of the stairs and headed towards the guest room.

While Twilight dealt with Jeff, I turned my head back around to face Luna who had a look of shame on her face. I still couldn't believe she had tried something so…devious.

"So…I take it that potion you left the note with _was_ the love potion…what the note said was a lie to get me to drink it." I said, Luna could only nod in sadness.

"Luna…why did you do something like this? Do you know what that potion could've done to me? The damage it would've caused between me and Twilight?" I said.

Luna quickly looked in my eyes. "I know, but I could not help it…the worry was too much for me to bare." She stated.

"What worry?" I asked.

"The worry of…failing to discover how it would feel if the colt I loved felt the same way about me." Luna stated while looking down at the floor.

I was slightly confused before I remembered how she felt about me a while back, this must mean she still felt love for me. "Wait…you mean, you're still in love me? But I thought you said you moved on after we talked about this." I said.

"I tried to, I really did. But it made me so sad, I felt lonely again. I gained the idea to use a love potion on you for an hour, but I couldn't decide whether to do it or not. But after I heard that your family came, I thought they would take you away, I would never know how it would feel to be loved if they did. I then realised that I could not allow the risk to rise up again, so I decided to use the love potion on you while I still could." Luna explained.

"Luna, a love potion wouldn't have made any difference. Yeah, it would've made me love you, but it would've been fake love. What's the point in discovering how love feels if it's fake?" I asked.

"You don't know what it is like to be somepony like me, you don't know how lonely I've been. In these times, I would settle for any type of love, fake or real." Luna stated strongly.

I didn't know what to do at this point, this was going far beyond my capabilities. I didn't know how to help Luna from here, until I thought about who else could help instead. "Luna…I want to help you, but I don't know how…maybe we should bring Celestia into this, she might know what to do." I said.

Luna's eyes widened slightly in fright, she was frightened of what her older sister might say if she found out. But being a mature Princess, she decided that it was for the best. "I think that is a good idea." She said quietly.

I nodded before I turned my head around to face Spike who was still standing in the doorway to the other room. "Spike, take a letter to the Princess." I said.

With that, Spike grabbed a sheet of paper and a quill. I began to tell him what to write while Luna prepared for her sisters arrival.

**Later that day**

After sending a message to Princess Celestia telling her what Luna had done and why she did it, it wasn't long before she came to the library. Though, she wasn't very pleased about the news.

Me and Twilight were still in the living room, Celestia and Luna were talking in the other room with the door shut so they could have so privacy. "Luna, I can't say I'm not disappointed. A love potion? We were raised better than that, little sister." Celestia said quite calmly.

Luna looked at the ground as she thought about what she had done. "I know, big sister. And you have every right to be disappointed in me, it's just…I…I've had feeling for Matthew for a while now and I just wanted-"

"I know you have feelings for Matthew, I've known for some time now." Celestia stated as she interrupted Luna.

Luna was more than surprised by this news. "You mean, you have known all this time? But why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

"I didn't say anything because I was hoping you would discover for yourself that Matthew was in love with Twilight and nothing could change that, I was hoping you'd decide to move on and find someone else…but it seems I was wrong." Celestia said.

Hearing this made Luna feel worse about her actions which caused her ears to drop. "I'm sorry I let you down." She said.

"You don't need to be sorry, Luna. I just never expected you to cause all this trouble over your feelings, what is it about Matthew that you love?" Celestia asked.

"Matthew made me feel as though the things I did as Nightmare Moon did not matter, he is the first colt to ever show me care and understanding. When we first met, he was not afraid of me like the other colts were. And after he rescued us from Thorn…I…I fell in love with him, I just want to know what it is like to have a colt love me." Luna explained.

Celestia understood her situation, but didn't know her next move. She let out a small sigh. "Wait here, sister." She said before she turned around and walked towards the door.

Celestia used her magic to open it before she walked into the living room to join Me and Twilight before she closed the door behind her, she then looked at us.

"Is she alright?" I asked with concern.

"Luna's fine, she's just upset with what she did. And there's another situation, in all our years together I've never seen her like this before, she is truly in love with you." Celestia said to me.

Twilight then stepped forward. "Well what can we do? Matt and I are engaged and our wedding is a few weeks away, Luna can't keep chasing Matt for the rest of our lives." She said.

"You're right, Twilight. She can't. I'm thinking she needs to hear the right words from the right pony's mouth." Celestia stated before she turned her head to look down at me.

Once she did, I instantly knew she was talking about me. "Wait, you want me to talk to her? But I already talked to her about this a while ago, nothing changed."

"I understand, but you need to try to again. She'll listen to you, it's the only chance you have." Celestia stated.

I gave it some thought before I realised she was right, I nodded before Celestia stepped aside and I walked towards the door. I slowly opened it and poked my head through to see Luna looking at the floor.

I let out a small sigh before I walked into the room and closed the door, I then walked up to Luna and sat down in front of her. Luna kept her eyes on the floor.

"Are you here to say you hate me now? To say our friendship is over and you never wish to speak to me again?" Luna asked in sadness.

"Luna, I could never hate you. I mean…yeah, what you did was wrong, but it wasn't your fault…I understand why you did this." I said.

Luna then looked at me. "You do?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, you feel lonely. You were on that moon for so long that you're tired of being alone…you just want someone to love you." I said.

"Yes, that's exactly how I feel." Luna stated.

"But I…I can't be with you." I said, my words made my own heart ache.

Luna frowned. "Because of what I did as Nightmare Moon, yes?" she said.

I shook my head. "No, because I'm in love with Twilight. I've told you before, I don't care about what you did as Nightmare Moon. You need to stop beating yourself up about that, forget the past…and forget me." I said.

"But…but I love you." Luna said with tears forming in her eyes.

I didn't want to say anymore as I felt pain in my heart, I then wrapped my arms around her and hugged her warmly. "I know…but I promise you…even if you don't find a stallion, you're not alone." I said.

Luna then pulled away and looked at me with a confused look. "How can you say I'm not alone? I don't have anyone to love and to love me in return." She said.

"Luna, you don't need a boy to be happy. Look around you, you have a wonderful sister and loyal friends that all love you…including me. You're not alone, Luna…we're with you, and that's all you need." I said sweetly.

Luna looked at me as she thought about my words. "You mean…I do not need a coltfriend to be happy? I just need my family?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, exactly. As long as your family's with you…you'll never be alone." I said.

Luna gave it some thought, that's when she realised the obvious. She did have all she needed, Celestia loved her, her subjects are no longer afraid of her, and she had the best anyone could ask for. Yes, having a coltfriend would be a great experience, but no one should rush into relationships the minute they gain a crush.

Luna looked at me with a small smile. "You are right, Matthew. I don't need a coltfriend straight away to be happy…I just need my family…my sister." She said.

"And us, we're part of your family too…and you and Celestia are a part of mine." I said with a warm smile.

Luna smiled largely before she grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug, I was surprised before I smiled and hugged back. "Thank you, Matthew."

"No problem." I said as I hugged her.

We then separated and Luna gave me a look of sorrow. "Oh, how could I have let myself do something like this? I let my feeling take me over, and for what? To ruin the bond between you and Twilight Sparkle? I'm so sorry, I cannot believe I did this to you." she said.

"Hey, it wasn't your fault. You just wanted to know how it feels to have a coltfriend, every mare feels that way eventually in their lives." I said.

"You are correct…and yet, I still don't know how it feels…unless…" Luna said as she looked at me with slightly wide eyes.

"Unless what?" I asked curiously.

Luna then placed her hoof on my shoulder. "Matthew, I'm going to ask a strong request from you…but it will allow me to feel what it is like to have a coltfriend so I can finally be able to move on without wondering anymore."

I wondered what she had in mind. "Ok, what is it?" I asked.

Luna blushed slightly as she gave me a nervous look. "Can I…can I…kiss you?"

Once I heard that, my eyes shot wide open with surprise. "Errr…excuse me?" I asked while standing there stunned.

Luna looked at me with begging eyes. "Please, just one quick kiss. That way, I'll know what it's like to be kissed by the pony I love…I'll finally be able to stop wondering how it feels and move on…please." She said.

I didn't know what to do. If I kiss her, it's basically cheating on Twilight. But if I didn't, I'd upset Luna…what do I do?

Luna waited for an answer while I continued to stand there fully stunned by her request, I then shook it off and became nervous. "Err…I…err…one moment." I said before I rushed back to the door and went into the front room to see Twilight and Celestia; leaving Luna alone in the other room.

Twilight and Celestia looked at me with curiosity. "What did you say to her? Is she alright?" Twilight asked.

I didn't know how to tell them about Luna's request, but I had to say something. "Err…yes and no." I said.

Celestia gave me a confused look. "Yes and no? What do you mean?" she asked.

I turned my head to face her. "It turns out Luna did this because she felt alone in the world, I told her that she's never alone as long as we're with her. She said that I was right and realised what she did was wrong, she's ready to move on. But she wants me to do something before she does." I explained.

"What does she want you to do?" Twilight asked curiously.

I turned my head to face Twilight. "She said that she also did this to discover what it's like to have a coltfriend. I told her that she didn't need to do something like this to get a coltfriend and she agrees with me, but she still wants to know what it's like so she can move on without having to wonder anymore." I explained.

Twilight raised her eye brow. "How're we gonna do that?" she asked.

I hesitated to tell her, but we had to talk this over to help Luna. "Luna's already answered that…she's asked me if I…could kiss her." I answered nervously.

Twilight and Celestia went wide-eyed. "What?!" they both said in shock.

I quickly reacted. "Her idea, not mine." I protested.

Twilight had a shocked look on her face. "Well…d-did you?" she asked.

I looked at her and shook my head. "No, I didn't. She says she wants to know what it's like to kiss the pony she loves, she wants me to kiss her so she wouldn't have to wonder how it feels anymore, then she'd be able to move on without any problems." I explained.

"Well, what are you going to do?" Celestia asked.

I looked up to her. "I don't know. If I kiss her, it's like cheating on Twilight. If I don't, Luna will be upset because she'd have to wait until she finds another colt just to know what it's like to be kissed. Oh, I don't know what to do, I can't do this kinda thing." I said as I began to stress.

Twilight and Celestia looked at each other before they walked over to the other side of the room. I watched as they silently talked to each other, I became nervous about what they were talking about.

After a minute, Twilight and Celestia came back over to me. "We've talked in over and we've decided what you should do." Celestia stated.

I looked up at her with silence before Twilight came up to me and brought her mouth to my left ear, she whispered something that surprised me. She pulled away and looked in my eyes. "Are you sure?" I asked.

Twilight nodded with an understanding smile. "It's the right thing to do." she said.

I gave her a weak smile before I turned around to the door, I took a deep breath before I opened it and walked back into the room with Luna. I saw Luna sitting in the centre of the room exactly where I left her.

I closed the door behind me before I walked up to Luna and sat in front of her again, we looked at each other with silence before Luna gave me a small frown.

"You cannot, can you? (sight)…I understand, it was far too much to ask…it is alright, I-I'll just wait until I find the right stall-" Luna couldn't finish her sentence because I gently placed my hoof on her lips to silence her.

I gave her a small smile. "Luna…I want you to know that I'll help you anyway I can to move on, I'll help you find the right stallion for you…if that's what you want." I said.

Luna gave me a small nod with my hoof still on her lips.

I nodded back. "Alright, that's what I'll do. But you have to promise me you'll never try to use a love potion on anyone ever again, ok?" I said in a serious voice, Luna nodded again.

My smiled returned. "Good…and I understand how desperate you must be to experience your first kiss. So just for tonight…this is all I can give you." I said before I moved my hoof from her lips to the bottom of her chin.

Luna stared into my eyes as she felt my hoof gently pull her head towards my face, she knew what I was doing and closed her eyes while I closed mine.

After a second, I felt her lips connect with mine as we shared a deep kiss, I made it as passionate as I could for Luna.

To me, the kiss was nice but it felt plain. But for Luna, fireworks exploded in her mind. The ripples in her mane flowed faster as we continued to kiss.

After another minute of passionate kissing, we separated and Luna slowly opened her eyes before she smiled sweetly at me. "That was…the most magical experience of my life." She said quietly.

"Don't get used to it. Remember, that was just to let you know what it feels like. That was a one-time thing between you and me, ok?" I said.

Luna nodded with the smile still on her face. "Of course, I completely understand…wow, so that's what it feels like to be kissed?" she asked in quiet amazement.

I smiled. "Nice, isn't it?" I said.

"Very much so, yes. And do not fret, I will no longer come between you and Twilight. I will move on for real this time, and find my own stallion instead of chased after someone else's. Thanks to you, I do not have to wonder what it's like anymore…thank you." she said with a thankful smile.

I was glad to hear this form her. "Glad to hear that, Luna. And you're welcome. Now come on, we'd best go back into the living room with Twilight and Celestia." I said.

Luna nodded before we both headed over to the door and went into the front room. Once we entered the front room, Twilight and Celestia came over to us. "Did you do it?" Twilight asked.

I silently nodded, Twilight then turned her head to face Luna. "So how was your first kiss, Princess?" she asked.

"Oh it was amaz-…I mean it was highly acceptable, an enjoyable act that I hope to one day experience again with another stallion. And Twilight Sparkle, I am dearly sorry for any trouble I most likely placed on you and Matthew. I just…couldn't control myself. I won't interfere any longer." Luna said.

Twilight gave her an understanding smile. "It's alright, Princess." She said.

At that moment, Celestia came over to us and looked down at Luna. "Now with that out of the way, I think it's best if we make our leave. It is nearly time for you to raise the moon, little sister." She said.

Luna smiled up at her. "Of course, big sister. Just spear me a moment to consult with Matthew." She said, Celestia nodded.

Luna then turned her head to face me. "Matthew…I want to show you my gratitude somehow, and that is why I have come up with an idea for your _real_ early wedding gift. Come to my castle in three days, it will be ready for you by then." She stated.

I wondered what she had in mind, I was beginning to grow curious. "Ok, I'll be there." I said.

With that, Luna smiled before she and Celestia walked into the centre of the living room and turned to face us. Luna gave us both a warm smile. "You two truly are the most perfect couple I've ever seen, and you belong together." She said.

Me and Twilight gave her a thankful smile before their horns glowed and they both disappeared in a flash of light; leaving me and Twilight alone in the living room.

The room was silent before I turned my head to face Twilight, she was looking at the ground and she softly kicked one of her front hooves on the floor.

I knew why she was doing this, she must have been upset because I kissed someone other than her. I came closer to her and wrapped my arm around her. "Hey…this didn't change how I feel about you, you're still the most amazing girl I've ever met." I said kindly.

Twilight turned her head to face me. "What was it like?...to kiss someone else?...d-did you like it?" she asked.

"Well…it was nice…but it could never compare with the feeling I get every time I kiss you. When I kissed Luna, it felt kinda plain and ordinary. But when I kiss you…I feel true magic in my mind…you're the only girl I am and forever will be in love with." I said sweetly.

Twilight gave me a warm smile. "Really?"

I nodded. "I've told you this before, but I'm gonna say it again…I love you, Twilight. And nothing…and I mean nothing…will ever, ever change that." I said.

Twilight continued to smile as she pulled me into a loving hug. "…I love you too, Matt…and nothing will change that for me either." She said.

Just then, the moment was interrupted by the sound of something thumping on a door upstairs. We broke the hug and went up to investigate.

The thumping was coming from the guest room door, I walked up to it and opened it. Jeff walked out with an irritated look. "What the hay is goin' on? First I drink some weird juice and blacked out, now I find myself locked in a room with no clue of what happened. What happened to me?" he asked loudly.

Me and Twilight smirked at each other before we looked back down at Jeff. "Trust me, Jeff…it's been one crazy day." I stated while continuing to smirk.

**That night: Luna's castle**

With her desires finally fulfilled, Luna was able to relax. She was up in her room, she stood out on her balcony as she enjoyed the fresh air.

Luna looked out at her beautiful sparkling garden in the night, smiling as the gentle breeze blew in her face and cool her down. She inhaled though her nose before she exhaled though her mouth. "Ahh…freedom." She said to herself.

She then turned her attention up to her stars. Due to her cheerful mood, she had made the starry skies a beautiful sight.

"This is a joyful day…not only did I receive a kiss from the colt I have admired for so long, but I am finally over him. Now I can allow him to continue his life with Twilight Sparkle without me getting in the way, I am finally free of my feelings." She thought.

Just then, Luna thought of something that made her blood boil. "But I have one final act to complete." She said out loud.

Luna turned around and walked back into her room. Once inside, Luna walked up to her make-up desk and used her magic to open the drawer that contained both the potion recipe and the black rose.

Luna used her magic to pick them up out of the drawer before she glared at them, the very sight of them made her feel disgusted.

Luna then walked over to her fireplace where small flames flowed up through the gaps between the lumps of coal, she gave the scroll and black rose a death glare. "Haunt me no longer." She growled.

With that, Luna tossed both the scroll and the rose into the fireplace and watched as they both began to catch fire and burn.

Luna watched with a firm look as the dark objects were being destroyed, she gave it a hard nod as she grunted. "That's the end of that." She said to herself.

Luna then turned around and walked back out onto her balcony so she could continue to enjoy the night.

Meanwhile, the scroll was now completely black as it started to fall apart into ash. The rose burned slowly, it shrivelled up as it started to catch fire and released a dark black smoke.

**Meanwhile: Mount Forbidden**

Zelga and Rage watched this happen in a vision that was being showed in the water of the large green pool, Rage watched with a raised eye brow while Zelga watched with worry.

The leader could see the vision from up on his throne, he didn't look amused at all. He was silent, but Zelga could tell he was angered by this.

The vision then disappeared in the water, Rage and Zelga looked up at the leader. The leader let out a small growl.

Zelga was frozen in his gaze, her plan had failed, there-for she had failed. "Brother…l-let me expla-"

She was cut off by the leader sticking his hoof up before his horn glowing green, there was a metal board next to the green pool, it slid over pool and sealed it up; allowing her to cross over it.

Zelga cleared her throat before she crossed the metal board and approached her fearful brother. "Let me explain…t-this was just a…a hiccup, i-it won't happen again…I swear." She said.

The leader just sat on his throne silently, it made Zelga become more paranoid. "…I know it won't…I'll make sure." He said darkly.

Zelga's breathing became heavy as she started to back away slowly.

"Your plan has failed, sister. And if you may recall, I said if your plan fails you, you fail me. And like I also said, no one fails me…and lives." The leader said darkly before his horn glowed again.

Suddenly, two strings of rusty chains shot down from the ceiling and they each wrapped around Zelga's neck. They then hoisted Zelga up off the floor and she gasped as she dangled from the chains.

The chains grip around Zelga's neck began to tighten, she gripped onto them with her front hooves as she tried to loosen the grip. But the chains kept getting tighter as Zelga gasped for air.

Rage then stepped forward. "Brother, this is madness. Release her!" he demanded.

The leader gave him a sharp glare. "You dare order me?!" he yelled before he shot Rage with a green lightning bolt his horn; causing Rage to fly back and crash against the wall.

Zelga was struggling for air, she had to think of a way to get her brother to release her. "Brother…please…let me..(gasp)…try again…I won't f-fail you again…" she gasped.

The chains grip loosened which allowed Zelga a sort amount of air, the leader looked at her with a raised eye brow. "And why should I do that, Zelga?" he asked.

"Because…w-we still have our secret weapon…let me assist him…let me take care of him like I have been doing for so many years…he won't fail…I won't let him…" Zelga said with determination.

The leader was silent before he grinned and chuckled. "Hahaha…you were always one to make quick ideas for quick escapes…very well." He stated before the chains released Zelga and she fell to the floor.

Zelga coughed before she gasped in as much air as she could, she laid on the floor as the leader approached her.

"You will look after the boy and make sure he does his job right...because this is your last chance. Fail me again, and I'll save Matthew the trouble and end you myself…am I clear?" the leader growled.

Zelga could only nodded as she breathed deeply on the dirty ground.

"Good, and by the way…the next time Matthew sleeps…be sure to give him a rather nasty nightmare for me." the leader growled.

Zelga smiled nervously as she nodded again.

The leader smiled evilly. "Good, now leave me." he ordered aggressively, Zelga got up off the ground and rushed out of the throne room as fast as she could.

The leader then turned his attention to Rage as he picked himself up of the floor, Rage groaned before the leader walked up in front of him and picked him up with his magic.

The leader glared sharply and him. "You forget you place, Rage. Order me like that again…it will be your last words." He said darkly before he threw Rage hard against the wall again and he dropped to the floor.

The leader turned around and walked back to his throne. "Now join up with Zelga and leave me." he ordered.

Rage got up and glared at his leader as he growled under his breath. "…As you wish, brother…" he said before he walked over to the door and left the throne room.

As Rage walked through the stone hallway, he mumbled to himself. "The second I get the chance…he's as dead as Thorn." He growled with anger burning in his eyes.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**So how did you like Luna's gift from Matt? Didn't see that coming, did you?**

**Now what could Luna have for Matt? We'll have to wait until the next chapter. **

**BTW, have you heard the news about the new MLP episode on the 19****th ****called '**_**Keep calm and Flutter on'**_**? Sounds like Discord's coming back. Let's see the summary.**

"_**Princess Celestia tasks the ponies with reforming Discord, a mischievous spirit of disharmony, but Fluttershy is the only one willing to give him a chance."**_

**I, for one, can't wait to see this episode. Discord is my favourite villain in the show, and it looks like he may become a good guy….huh, kinda like in my story. Funny how the world works, aye?**

**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	39. Chapter 39: The magic within

**Hey everypony, I'm back again.**

**Man, I am so excited about seeing the new episode next Saturday. I wish I didn't have to put up with collage before it comes, I really want to see it. let's look at the new summary for it.**

"_**Princess Celestia has decided that the rambunctious Discord needs to be tamed and commissions the ponies for the job; Fluttershy believes that Discord deserves a second chance but she faces opposition as she is the only one who thinks so." **_

**I hope they'll release clips and stuff during the week before Saturday, just something to give us while we wait. **

**Anyway, enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 39: The magic within

It's been 3 days since Luna tried to use the love potion on me. And as promised, I was preparing to go to Luna's castle to see this mysterious present she wants to give to me.

Of course, we had to explain to Jeff about what happened. And trust me, he was shocked once we did. He even vowed that whenever he was thirsty, he'd stick to water from now on.

I've also been having bad nightmares again, it was weird. One night, I'd have a nightmare. The next night, I wouldn't. And then the night after that, I'd have another one. It's as if they were being turned on and off like a light-bulb.

**Ponyville library **

I had just finished taking a shower, I walked out of the bathroom feeling refreshed and clean. I needed to appear good for when I visit Luna, she was still a princess after all.

I walked into the living room to find Twilight standing by the front door with my saddle-bags sitting on the floor beside her.

I walked up to her and smile. "Ok, Twi. I'm all clean and ready to go." I said.

Twilight smiled back. "Good, now I've packed you some things to use while you're there. Apples in case you get hungry, a scarf in case you get cold, and other stuff." She said.

After hearing this, I smirked at her. "You're always taking care of me, aren't cha?"

Twilight smirked back. "Well that's because you're always getting yourself into trouble, you probably wouldn't last a day without me." she said.

I then caught her by surprise by wrapping my arm around her back and quickly pulling her up to me, I continued to smirk as I looked straight into her eyes. "…You don't know how right you are…I don't know how I'd live without you, Twi." I said sweetly.

Twilight smiled warmly, she responded by leaning her head forward and kissing me deeply. I kept hold of her as I kissed back.

After a few seconds, Twilight broke the kiss but I kept my arm around her. "Alright, now you should get going. You don't want to be late for your meeting with the Princess." She said.

I still had the smirk on my face. "Oh…I think she can wait a little longer." I said before I started kissing Twilight's cheek.

Twilight giggled as she tried to push me away. "Matt, hehe, not now…you're gonna be late, we'll have some private time later, hehe." She giggled.

I teased her by continuing to kiss her cheek lovingly, Twilight kept her amused smile before her horn glowed and my arm was forced to release her. I smirked at her again. "Spoil-sport." I joked.

Twilight smirked back before she hovered the saddle-bags onto my back. "Get out of here, you big green lump." She joked as she pointed at the door.

I chuckled at her demand. "Yes, ma'am." I said before I walked up to the door, I grabbed the nod with my hoof and pulled the door open before I walked out of the library.

Twilight watched from the doorway as I walked further away from the library to have enough room to take off. "Hey!" Twilight called.

I turned my head around to see her in the doorway, she smiled warmly at me. "I love you." she said.

I smiled warmly back. "Love you too, Twi." I said before I turned my head back around and looked up at the clear blue sky above me.

I then flapped my wings and took off into the sky. Once I was high in the air, I turned around to look down at Twilight who was still standing in the doorway. I waved down to her and she waved back.

With that done, I turned back around and flew off in the direction towards Luna's castle.

Twilight continued to watch me until she couldn't see me anymore, she turned the around and walked back into the library before she closed the front door.

**Later that day: Luna's castle **

After a long and tiring flight, I finally arrived at Luna's castle. I landed in front of the main gates where, once again, two guards stood and looked at me.

After coming here a number of times, I knew the drill at this point. They'd ask me what my intentions were and I'd have to explain why I was here, I was about to explain before one of the guards cut me off before I could even speak.

"Young Matthew, it's been a while since you last came here. The Princess informed us that you were coming, I'll escort you inside while my partner informs the Princess of your arrival." One of the guards said before they both used their magic to open the gates, I was surprised by their understanding.

As he said, one guard rushed towards the castle while the other stayed with me. He looked at me again. "This way." He said before he walked in the castle grounds with me following behind.

Meanwhile, the guard went inside the castle and rushed up the stairs that led to the throne room.

Luna was standing in the centre of her throne room with three guards standing before her, she was instructing them on their duties.

"And that is why I have called you three here, you are my best guards and I am putting you in charge of all the groups until my new caption arrives in a few months. Am I clear?" Luna said with a serious voice.

"Yes, your highness." The three guards said strongly at the same time.

At that moment, the guard from the gates opened one of the double-doors and walked towards Luna. The three guards turned around to see him before they separated to let him approach Luna. Once in front of her, he bowed his head.

The guard then brought his head back up to look Luna in the face. "Your highness, I'm here to inform you that Matthew has arrived." he said to her.

After hearing this, Luna smiled. "Thank you, show him in. The rest of you, you know your duties, dismiss." She said.

With that, the guards gave one last bow before they did as she said and walked away from her. Luna then remembered something important before turned her attention to one of the guards. "Oh wait, you." she said pointing at the guard.

The guard she was pointing at then stopped walking and turned around to face her. "Yes, your highness?" he asked.

"I have a task for you, go down to the forgery and ask if Matthew's gift is ready." Luna said.

The guard bowed again. "Of course, your highness." He said before he turned around and followed the other guards out of the throne room and closed the doors behind him; leaving Luna alone in the room while she waited.

Meanwhile, Me and the guard entered the castle lobby and went up the stairs towards the throne room. On the way, three other guards walked down passed us before the guard that I recognized from the gates stopped in front of us. "Her majesty will see you now." He said.

"Thank you." my escort said before we both continued to walk up the stairs.

Once we reached the top of the stairs, the guard walked up to the double-doors to the throne room and opened one of them. "Go right in." he said to me.

"Thanks." I said politely before I walked passed him and into the throne room, he closed the door behind me.

Upon entering the throne room, I noticed Luna standing in the middle of the room. She smiled once she saw me. "Matthew, I am so glad you could make it here." she said.

I smiled back and I walked up to her, I took my saddles-bags off my back and placed them on the floor before I sat down in front of her. "Hi Luna…how've ya been?" I asked.

Luna kept her smile as she let out a small sigh. "It has not been very easy…but I am handling the situation. I haven't met any stallions I like yet." She said.

"Well I believe that, it's only been three days. You need to take your time, Luna. Don't find the stallion, let him find you. If you go rushing these things, you'll wind up in a bad relationship with the wrong guy. Trust me, I've seen it happen before." I stated.

Luna then nodded. "Yes, of course…let him find me, I understand." She said.

I smiled warmly at her. "Trust me, Luna. Your stallion's coming, I know he is. There's someone out there for everypony, remember that." I said, Luna nodded.

With that out of the way, Luna cleared her throat. "Anyway, I bet you are wondering what your gift is, it is something truly marvellous." She stated.

Upon hearing this, I became even more curious and excited. I nodded. "Yeah, what is it?" I asked.

Luna then smirked. "You will see, we just need to wait until it is ready." She said before she sat down on the floor.

"…ready?..." I thought with confusion, I then shook off the thought as we both started to make small talk while we waited for this mysterious present to show up.

After a few minutes, we heard the double-doors open and I turned my head around to see a guard walk in. "Your highness…it is done." He stated.

Luna smiled. "Thank you, guard. Bring it in." she said.

I watched as the guard turned around and walked out of the throne room. A second after he left, two forger unicorns came in, one of them was hovering a big red metal box in front of him as they approached us.

"Place it here, please." Luna said as she pointed her hoof down at the space between us.

Once the forgers reached us, they did as they were told and placed the metal box down between me and Luna. Luna smiled with satisfaction before she looked at the forgers. "Thank you, that will be all." She said.

The forgers bowed before they walked back over to the doors and left the throne room, Luna used her magic to close the doors to give us some privacy.

I looked down at the red box with wonder. "What's in there?" I asked.

Luna smiled at me. "Something no other Pegasus has ever had before, it is my finest creation yet." She said.

Luna then used her magic to open the metal lid and there was a bright glowing light inside the box, I couldn't see the source of the glowing because it was so bright.

"Matthew, I present to you…_The_ _Horned Helmet_!" Luna said as she used her magic to life a shiny golden helmet out of the box and it floated in front of me.

The helmet was made of shiny gold metal, it looked a lot like one of the helmets Celestia's guards wear, except it didn't have the plume brush on top of it like their helmets did.

But that was nothing, what really got my attention about it was the green crystal poking out of the fore-head area. In a way, it resembled a unicorn horn. Luna used her magic to slowly rotate it in the air to show the whole thing off.

"It was forged from the finest metal in Equestria, it is virtually indestructible. Never denting, never rusting…the perfect helmet for none-magical beings." Luna explained as she kept her eyes on the helmet.

I stared at it with awe, I felt the same feeling I had when I first laid my eyes on the Elements of Harmony. "Wh-…what does it do?" I asked.

"See the crystal on the helmet's fore-head? That crystal will be the power behind your helmet, all it needs is some magic from your Element and you will be able to use that magic for your own advantages." Luna stated.

I was confused for a moment before I realised what she meant by all this, I looked at her. "You mean…when I put this on…I'll have the magic abilities of a unicorn?" I asked.

Luna looked at me before she nodded. "Yes…you will have both flight _and_ magic by your side when you wear this helmet. This is my gift to you."

I was surprised by what I was hearing, I would be able to use magic like a unicorn, like Twilight. I would basically become an alicorn with this thing, with powers even my Element can't give me. I smiled at her. "Luna…this is a great gift, thank you so much…I like it…but you said it needed magic, how do we do that?" I asked.

"I have already figured that out, you need to power it with the magic from your Element. And once that is done, the Helmet will answer to no one else but you, just in case the wrong ponies get their hooves on it." Luna said.

I nodded before I took a few steps back, I closed my eyes and thought about the Element on my body. With a bright flash of light, my Element appeared on my body.

I opened my eyes and looked down at my golden armoured vest. "It's been a while since I last saw you." I said to it.

Luna looked back up at the floating helmet before she turned it around so the crystal horn was facing me, Luna looked back at me. "Are you ready?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yep." I answered.

"Just focus your mind, imagine the Element's power flowing into the crystal." Luna said softly.

I closed my eyes and did as she said, I heard a small humming sound coming from my chest.

While I did that, the green crystal (in the shape of my cutie mark) on the chest area of my Element began to glow before a small beam shot out of the middle and connected with the tip of the crystal horn on the helmet.

This continued for a few minutes before the beam stopped and my crystal cutie mark stopped glowing, I opened my eyes to see the crystal horn on the helmet glowing green before the glow faded away.

Luna then walked up to me with the helmet floating beside her. "It is done…here, it is yours." She said before she hovered the helmet in front of me.

I took it in my front hooves and examined the helmet. When I turned it around to look at the back, I noticed a slightly wide slit going up along the middle and ending near the fore-head.

"What's this slit for?" I asked Luna.

"It is for your hair to poke through, we would not want the helmet to flatten your mane, would we?" Luna said before she let out a small laugh.

I chuckled. "Haha, guess not." I said.

After examining it for a bit, I was finally ready to try it on. I lifted it up before I lowered it down onto my head, it was surprisingly light for its size.

And Luna was right, my mane poked through the slit at the back, which made the helmet feel easier to wear.

"For a helmet, this thing's kinda comfy." I said with a pleased voice.

Luna smiled. "I am so glad you like it, now for the test." She said before her horn glowed.

I wondered what Luna was doing before there was a small flash of light between us, I looked down to see three coloured rocks on the floor. Once was red, and the other one was yellow. I was confused by this.

Just then, there was another flash and I looked up to see a big brown book in front of me. The book opened on a certain page, I read the title of the page to see the words _Levitation Spell. _The book was obviously a spell book.

"This will be a simple levitation spell, I want you to stack these rocks on top of each other in precise order. First yellow, then red. Think you can do it?" Luna asked with a raised eye brow.

I turned my attention back down to the rocks before I looked back up at the book, I gulped. "I'll try."

I then read the spell for levitation and it was easy enough to understand, but was it possible to do it? I didn't know. But if unicorns like Twilight could do it, so could I.

I looked back down at the rocks before Luna took the book away, she took a few steps back to give me room.

I closed my eyes tight and did as the book said, I just had focus power into the horn while imagining the rock lifting up.

I grunted as I tried to use magic for the first time ever, it felt as though my brain was pushing against my skull.

But even though it was a rough feelings, it made some progress. The crystal horn on my helmet began to glow slightly, the red rock began to glow as well before it lifted up off the floor.

As I tried to hover the rock above the yellow rock, I gave in and it fell back to the floor. I breathed heavily. "It's harder than I thought…how do you do this without even grunting?" I asked as I forced my head up to face Luna.

"Do not put so much pressure into it, we do it without pushing ourselves. Try again, but relax your mind." Luna said.

I took a few more breaths before I looked back down to the rocks, I closed my eyes and did as she said. I relaxed and focused power into the horn while imagining the rock lifting up again.

My crystal horn glowed easier this time, the red rock began to glowed before it slowly lifted off the ground. It floated towards the yellow rock before it stopped right above it.

I opened one of my eyes to see I was doing it, I slowly opened the other while trying to keep the rock floating. I made it lower down slowly before it touched the yellow rock and I released it from my magic.

The rock didn't fall off and I smiled with joy. "Hey, I did it." I cheered.

Luna walked up to me and smiled. "Yes, you did…I knew you could. But that was only step one, there are many more spell for you to learn. I cannot teach you many, but I will teach you some beginner spells. You can learn the rest with Twilight Sparkle, who better to teach you than her?"

I nodded. "Alright, so what spells am I learning today?" I asked.

"You have seemed to have mastered the levitation spell, now you need to learn Teleportation, Illumination, and finally the Attack spell." Luna stated.

I gave her a small smile before a worrying thought hit me. "Ok…so I guess that means I'll have to-"

Luna cut me off by hovering the spell book in front of me. "Read the spell book to learn theses spells? Yes." She said.

I took the book in my front hooves before I let out a winey groan, Luna heard this and giggled in amusement.

**Meanwhile: Rarity's boutique **

Rarity was in deep focus on Twilight's wedding gown, she was wearing her designer-glasses over her eyes while a measuring-tape hung from the back of her neck. She also had a basket full of flowers and stuff sitting beside her.

Her horn glowed before a number of white bows floated up from the basket, she pictured in her mind how the dress would look if she put the bows on it.

"Hmmm…no, no, that'll never do." Rarity said to herself before she tossed the bows aside.

Her horn glowed again before two yellow roses floated out of the basket, she once again pictured how they'd look on the dress.

Rarity smiled with delight as she gained an idea, she then placed the roses onto the dress. "Perfect." She exclaimed.

Just before Rarity could continue, there was a knock on her. Rarity turned her head to look at the door. "One second, please." She said.

Rarity used her magic to close the two large red curtains to hide the dress, she then trotted over to the door to answer it.

Once Rarity reached it, she used her magic to open it. "Hello." She said kindly before she noticed that no one was there, she looked around in confusion. "Hello?"

"Down here." A deep voice said.

Rarity looked down to see Jeff standing in front of her, she gave him a kind smile. "Why hello, Jeff. What brings you here? You don't usually come here by yourself." She stated.

Jeff looked nervous, he rubbed the ground with his talons. "I just wanted to talk to ya about somethin'…I kinda need some advice about somethin' important."

Rarity rubbed her chin with her hoof. "Some advice, hmm?...come on in." she said.

With that, Jeff walked into her home before Rarity closed the door.

They both walked up to the big red couch, Jeff flew up onto it before Rarity sat down beside him. "So what's on your mind, dear?" she asked.

"Well…it's kinda embarrassing to say…but I need some help with romance problems." Jeff said.

Rarity raised her eyes brow. "Romance problems?" she repeated.

Just then, Rarity knew where he was going with this and grinned. "Jeff…is there a special little bird-lady you have your eyes on?" she said with excitement growing inside her.

Jeff blushed slightly. "Well…(sigh) yeah, I kinda met her a few days ago." He said.

Rarity smiled with full delight. "Oh that is wonderful news, what type of bird is she? What's her name?" she asked.

Jeff then rubbed the back of his neck with his wing. "Err…yeah, about that…I kinda made a bad move, and I need help on how to fix it." he explained.

Rarity's excitement faded as confusion took over her. "Why? What did you do?" she asked.

"You best get comfy, because this is gonna be a long story." Jeff stated.

Rarity understood this and narrowed her eyes. "We're going to need tea." She stated.

A few minutes later, Jeff and Rarity were now in the kitchen by the round table in the corner of the room, Rarity was sitting on a chair by it while Jeff was standing on it.

Like Rarity said, she had a cup of tea sitting on the table in front of her. Jeff had one too, although he was too much into his crisis state to mention he didn't like the stuff.

Jeff had explained his situation to Rarity, he told her that the girl he had a crush on was Philomena and what happened between them in Fluttershy's garden.

After hearing the whole story, Rarity had only one response. "You're in some deep hot water, my friend." She said.

Jeff then let out a loud groan as he fell back onto his back. "I know, I wanna know how I can make things right with her." he said.

"Well, to be perfectly honest. I think you should start by apologizing to Philomena and tell her it was a miss-understanding, but I don't exactly know why you came to me about this, what can I do?" Rarity asked.

Jeff then stood back up onto his feet and looked up at her. "Because you're in to all that _high-society_ stuff. Matt says Philomena is the pet of Princess Celestia, I need to know how to look good for royalty." He said in a stressed tone.

Rarity gave him an unsure look. "I don't know, Jeff. Philomena is a bird of royalty, and you're just…err…You're just so…"

Rarity stared down at Jeff as she looked at his dirty ruffled feathers and mud stained talons, she was even uncomfortable with having him on her kitchen table.

Rarity noticed that he was still waiting for her to finish her sentence and quickly spoke. "Anyway, I think you should try and apologise to her first. And if she does accept it, try and take things slow before you start building a relationship with her." She said.

Jeff wasn't so sure he could handle it, it seemed difficult to him. But if doing all that meant Philomena would like him a little better, he was willing to do it.

He looked up to her and nodded. "Alright, I'll do it. So when do I go?" Jeff asked.

"I wouldn't go today, it hasn't been that long since you both last met. She probably still holds a grudge, I know I would. I'd go after a week or so, just in case." Rarity stated.

Jeff nodded. "Fare enough, so do I buy her somethin' in the meantime? You know, somethin' to give to her when I do see her again." he asked.

"That's a good idea, but I know exactly what you should do before you meet Philomena again." Rarity said.

"Really, what?" Jeff asked.

Rarity's eyes then went narrow. "Take a shower, you're filthy…I mean, you'd want to look clean and shiny for Philomena, wouldn't you?" she asked with a small smile.

Jeff then looked down at his dirty feathers. "Hmm…you may be on to somethin', I do look a little…messed up." he said.

Rarity smiled again and waved her hoof. "Not to worry, I'll clean you up in a jiffy. Just follow me." she said as she got off her chair and walked into the front room.

Jeff followed her by flying behind.

Once they were in the front room, Rarity stopped and looked up at Jeff. "Could you wait here for a moment, darling? I just need to take care of something in the kitchen." she said.

Jeff landed on the floor beside her. "Yeah, sure thing." he said.

With that, Rarity went back into the kitchen and used her magic to quickly bring a spray-bottle and a cleaning-cloth out of the cupboard.

Rarity rushed to the kitchen table and sprayed the spot were Jeff was standing, she then scrubbed the spot as fast as she could with the cloth.

Once Rarity was finished, she lifted up the cleaning-cloth and smiled as she saw the spot sparkle without a speck of dirt on it. "Much better." She said to herself.

"Rarity, are you comin'?" Jeff called from the front room.

"Oh, coming." Rarity called back before she placed the spray-bottle and cleaning-cloth back in the cupboard.

Rarity then trotted back into the front room with a satisfied smile before she re-joined Jeff, the two then headed towards the bathroom where Jeff would get clean.

Something Rarity _definitely_ wanted him to be while he was in her boutique.

**Meanwhile: Luna's castle**

After leaning Teleportation and Illumination, I was now learning the Attack spell. I was still wearing my Element and Horned Helmet, so I was ready for battle.

Luna was impressed by how fast I had learned the spells, I have the book to thank for that, even if the thing's the size of a cinder-block.

Like my training with my Element, I was using live pony-dummies to practise on.

There were three in the throne room with me, one red, one blue, and one green. They slowly approached me as I stood in a fighting position ready to strike them.

Luna watched from her throne with a confident smile.

I grinned deviously at them, I didn't take my eyes off the dummies as they stared at me with those glowing yellow eyes.

Suddenly, they all charged towards me. I quickly pointed my crystal horn at them before it shot a green beam of magic.

It shot across towards the dummies before I struck the green one, it flew backwards before crashing to the floor.

I allowed the other two to reach me before the red dummy tried to throw a punch at me, I dodged it before I grabbed its arm and swung it against the blue dummy; causing them to fall to the ground.

Thanks to my Element's power, I was much stronger. Just like my battle with Thorn, my Element made me stronger and faster for any battle.

The two dummies got back up before galloping back over to me, I flexed my left arm up before a green shield appeared on the back of my arm.

As the blue dummy swung a punch, I quickly blocked it with my small shield. I then lifted the shield out of the way before I shot the dummy with a magic beam from my horn.

The red dummy appeared behind me before it spun around and tried to buck me with its hind-legs.

I turned my head around and used my new magic to grab the hooves of its hind-legs before they could hit me, I then lifted the dummy up so it was hanging upside-down in mid-air.

Just then, I noticed that the green dummy from across the room was starting to get back. I looked up at the red dummy stuck in my magic grasp before an idea came to me.

I used my magic to spin dummy around in circles, I quickened the speed it and the dummy spun faster.

Now the dummy was spinning with great speed before I looked back over to the green dummy and timed my aiming until it was right.

When it was, I released the red dummy from my magic grip and it flew across the room towards the green dummy. Until finally, the red dummy shot into the green dummy and they both crashed to the floor.

"Strike." I cheered.

Just then, I noticed the blue dummy was starting to get back up.

I created shield disc in my hooves before I threw it like a Frisbee towards the blue dummy.

Just as the blue dummy got back onto its hooves, the shield disc sliced through its neck and smashed against the wall behind it.

It stood there for a second before its head fell off and its body fell over; spilling cotton-stuffing onto the floor.

The red and green dummy didn't get back up, they just lied there as if they were knocked out cold.

The training battle was over, I then heard clapping from the throne and I looked to see Luna clapping her front hooves together with a proud smile on her face.

Luna then stopped clapping before she jumped down from her throne and walked over to me. "Well done, Matthew. I am pleased that you are handling the helmet's power so well, too bad you did not have it while Thorn was around." She said.

I nodded. "Yeah, it would've come in handy. So, is that the last of the training for today?" I asked.

Luna nodded. "Yes, you may now dispatch your Element. And do not worry about your Helmet, now that it is a part of your Element, it will disappear back to the vault in Canterlot as well." She stated.

I then closed my eyes before both my armoured vest and helmet disappeared in a flash of light, I felt the cool air brush against my fur now all that armour was gone.

I stroked it through my mane with my hoof. "It feels good to do that again." I stated with a smile.

Luna then came closer to me. "Now Matthew, in honour of your success in your training, I am going to present you with one of my deepest secrets." She said.

"Ok, what is it? I won't tell anyone, promise." I said.

Luna smiled before she leaned her head towards mine, I was worried that she was going to kiss me again. I was about to stop her before she brought her mouth to my ear.

"Come up to my quarters, we need to be up there in order for me to show you my secret." Luna whispered.

I blushed deeply as Luna walked passed me and approached the two double-doors that led to the lobby, I turned around and watched as she opened them with her magic.

Luna turned her head around to me. "Coming?" she asked.

I was wondering what she wanted me in her room for, I laughed nervously as I nodded.

I then walked over to my saddles-bags and placed them up in my mouth before I placed them back on my back. I walked over to Luna and we both then left the throne room.

Luna closed the doors behind us. But instead of going down the stairs in front of us, Luna walked towards a different stack of stairs that where on the left side of the room.

I followed her and we both went up the stairs to a part of the castle I've never been to.

After a few minutes, we were now on a high floor in the castle. I kept following Luna as we approached a small door.

Luna used her magic to open it to reveal what looked like her room, there was a large bed, a make-up desk with a large mirror, and a pair of double-doors made of glass that to led to a balcony outside.

I walked into the room and admired it. "Do you like my room?" Luna asked.

I turned my head around to face her. "Yeah, I do. It looks cosy." I said.

Luna then walked into the room before she closed the door behind her. "And now to present you with my secret." She said.

As she walked closer to me, I became even more nervous. "Umm…are you sure you couldn't have shown me it in the throne room?" I asked.

Luna shook her head. "Now, this can only be done in a peaceful environment. Anyone could have come into the throne room and interrupted us." she stated.

I gulped hard at the sound of that. "Luna…I'm not so comfortable with doing this, what is it we're doing anyway?" I asked.

"You are going to sleep." Luna stated.

"Luna, I appreciate the offer but…I can't sleep over here. Twilight's nervous as it is, and if I sleep here, she's gonna become worried and she might suspect something between us." I stated.

"Matthew, I am just going to show you a secret I have made in somewhere I like to call the _Dream Realm_. But we can only go there if you are asleep, I am letting you use my bed for your comfort while you enter the Dream Realm." Luna explained.

With that, I understood what she was doing. I blushed from embarrassment from what I thought she was planning, I laughed sheepishly. "Haha, so that's why you brought me up here…you want to show me something in a dream world."

Luna raised her eyes brow. "Why yes, what were you expecting?" she asked.

"It was nothing. Anyway, how does this work again?" I asked.

Luna was curious about what I thought she was going to do, but then decided to drop the subject and spoke. "All you have to do is sleep on my bed and dream, I will met you inside the Dream Realm." She said.

I gave her a confused look. "Okaaay." I said before I walked up to her bed, placed my saddle-bags on the floor before I crawled up onto her bed.

I lied down on the beds surface without getting under the covers, my head was on the pillow before I lifted my head up to face Luna. "Hold up, if I'm sleeping on your bed, where're you gonna sleep?" I asked.

Luna waved her hoof. "Do not worry about that, I have my own way of entering the Dream Realm. You just lie back and relax, I will help you get to sleep." she said.

I then did as she said, I lied my head back down on the pillowed and relaxed.

While I did that, Luna's horn gently glowed and a small cloud of blue smoke came out of the tip, the smoke floated up in front of my face and I sniffed it in.

Just then, my eye lids felt heavy as my vision blurred up. It wasn't long before I gave in and I closed my eyes; causing me to instantly fall to sleep on Luna's bed.

**(Dream Realm) Unknown field**

_I slowly blinked my eyes open. But instead of seeing the ceiling of Luna's room, I saw a starry night sky._

_I then felt a small breeze against my body before I leaned up off the ground to see I was in the middle of some sort of field. There was no town in sight, just the grass beneath me and a large wall off trees a mile away from me._

_I looked back up at the sky. Not only were there stars in the dark sky, but full planets too. It was as if the entire planet had moved closer to the others, I watched as shooting-stars shot across the sky._

_I was stunned with amazement, the beauty of this strange land was unspeakable. _

"_Beautiful, is it not?" a voice said behind me._

_I turned around to see Luna sitting on a large rock in the middle of the field. "Welcome to the Dream Realm, Matthew. Where, as you may already know, imagination comes to life."_

_I walked up to the rock and looked up at Luna. "Is this what you wanted to show me? Because this place is beautiful, I've never seen anything like this." I said._

_Luna then jumped down from the rock before it sank into the ground. "This place is not exactly why I brought you here, but do you have any questions on this place first?"_

"_Yeah, how are you here? How am I here? Is this my dream, or yours?...or is this some other dimension?" I asked while really confused._

"_To be fair, this is basically your dream. You have fallen asleep and I have transported myself into your dream. Right now, the only pony who is in my room back in the Real World is you." Luna explained._

_I was slightly confused by this. "I didn't know you could enter other pony's dreams." I said._

"_I am the Princess of the night, thus it is my duty come into your dreams." Luna said with a small smile._

"_Really?...ok then, so what was it you wanted to show me in this place?" I asked._

_Luna was silent as she pointed her hoof towards something._

_I looked in the direction she was pointing in to see the forest about a mile away, Luna spread her wings out. "We shall fly there."_

_I nodded before I spread my wings out as well, we then flapped our wings before we took off into the sky._

_Once we got high enough, we started to fly towards the forest. It was amazing, the air in this realm felt so fresh and cool. I closed my eyes and enjoyed it as it blew softy into my face._

_Just then, I heard a silent caw and I opened my eyes to see that a number of phoenixes had joined us in flight. They flew gracefully along-side us._

_I turned my head to look at Luna as she smiled at me, we both then dived down towards the forest._

_Before we could hit the trees, we quickly pulled up until we were back up in the sky. We then continued to fly towards wherever we were going._

_We continued to fly before we reached the other side of the forest where there was another field._

_I watched as Luna dived down and landed on another large rock, I dived down and landed beside her. Luna looked out at the field as if there was something to see._

_I looked out at the field as well but there was nothing, the only thing I saw was the field stretching out towards other forest which wasn't far away, there was also what appeared to be a dried-up ditch going across the field. _

_I turned my head back to Luna. "What are we looking at?" I asked._

_Luna didn't look at me, she just kept looking forward. "We are waiting, it should not be long now." She stated._

"_What shouldn't be?" I asked._

_Luna was silent, she looked down from the rock as a sparkling light was reflecting off something. I looked down at what was sparkling to see a dark blue rose rise up from the grass and open its petals; revealing its whole beautiful self._

_I was stared down at it before I noticed something else sparkling, I turned my head to see another blue rose rise up and do the same._

_Luna smiled as a few more blue roses rose up from the ground, almost all the field was covered in sparkling blue roses. "It is time." She said._

_I was confused before I watched as the field transformed into a beautiful garden of sparkling plants, it looked almost like Luna's garden back at her castle._

_I watched as different types of flowers sprouted from the ground, they were all blue and sparkling as if they had left-over rain drops on them._

_A few large trees grew from the ground like time was fast-forwarding which made them grow faster than a normal tree would. Once they grew to their full size, the tops were covered in leaves that were as dark and sparkly as the flowers._

_I then noticed something near the dried-up ditch, a large number of large rocks inside it rose up from the dirt and started to attach themselves together. _

_I then realised they were starting to form something. I was surprised to see that the large rocks were forming a stone bridge that stretched from one side of the ditch to the other._

_I was in bigger surprise to see that the ditch was starting to fill up with water all by itself, it was as if it was rising from the dirt until it was completely full._

_No more happened after that, I stared in awe at the garden in front of me. A quiet empty field just transformed itself into a garden right in front of me, I have never seen anything like that._

_Luna turned her head to face me with a smile. "Matthew…welcome to my Garden of Shadows." She said with pride._

_I didn't know what to say, it was truly amazing. "Whow…is this the secret you wanted to show me?" I asked while continuing to stare at the garden._

"_Yes, this is my personal project here in the Dream Realm. Even since I learned that you can make your own reality in this realm, I have been creating this garden. Every flower, every tree, it is all my work." Luna explained._

_I then looked at her with a raised eye brow. "So, you've been coming into my dreams and creating this place?" I asked._

_Luna shook her head. "No, the Garden of Shadows is part of my own dream. You see, because I have entered your dream, some of my imagination has combined itself with yours, letting us experience both our dreams at the same time. I may be real, but my imaginations still roam once I enter this Realm." She explained._

_It was hard to understand, but I got most of what she said. "Shall we?" Luna said before she leaped off the rock and headed towards the stone bridge, I leaped off too before I started to follow her._

_As we crossed the stone bridge, Luna stopped halfway and put her hooves up over the stone barrier, I stepped up beside her and did the same. _

_I turned my head to face Luna. "So how come you haven't shown anyone else this place? Why keep it a secret." I asked._

_Luna turned her head to face me. "Because something does not feel right…I feel as though there is something missing…as if there is a hole that has yet to be filled. What will fill it, I do not know." She said. _

"_Don't worry, Luna. It'll come to you…eventually." I said trying to give her confidence._

"_I appreciate your confidence in me, but it is not necessary. I know I will find what is missing from my garden, and when I do…this garden will be the most special place in the entire Dream Realm." Luna said._

_I smiled at her before we both heard a small splashing sound, we looked down at the stream below us to see a group of Flying-fish skip across the water surface._

_We both saw our reflections in the water, Luna turned her head to look at me with a smile. "Come, there is still much more to see." She said before she stepped down from the barrier and continued to walk across the bridge._

_I did the same before I followed her._

_As we got to the other side of the bridge, Luna stopped right in front of the grass at the end of the bridge. I wondered why she stopped before a stone path appeared in front of Luna's hooves and stretched on through the garden, she then continued to walk along the stone path with me following._

_This side was different to the other, this one had even more sparkly flowers and it had some of the large trees. Just then, I heard a sound behind me, it sounded like children laughing in a ghostly way._

_I turned my head around and saw nopony, I then turned my head back around and continued to follow Luna. _

_I heard the sound again, I looked in the direction it came from to see only one of the large thick trees. I was creeped out at this point, I walked faster until I was beside Luna._

"_Luna…I think someone else is here." I said while looking around for whoever made the sound._

"_Do not be frightened, Matthew…they are just playing." Luna stated as she continued to walk._

_I gave her a confused look. "Who?" I asked._

_Just then, Luna stopped and turned her head to face me. She then pointed to something, I turned my head to where she was pointing and was stunned at what I saw._

_There were two small ponies running through the flowers, one of them looked like a colt while the other was a filly. The colt was a unicorn while the filly was an Earth pony. Only they didn't look normal, their bodies were completely white and I could see through them, they were like ghosts._

_As I stared at them, I heard more laughter before I looked to where it came from to see more kids playing in the garden. I began to notice even more of them in different parts of this side of the garden, they were almost everywhere._

_I just kept looking around at the different kids playing different games, some were playing Tag, some were playing with a jump-rope, and two fillies were admiring the flowers. It was kinda spooky in a way._

_I looked back at Luna to see a sweet smile on her face, I didn't know why she was smiling. "Luna…who are all these kids? Are they…are they ghosts?" I asked._

_Luna looked at me and shook her head. "No, these children are not spirits. These are just illusions made by my own desires, they are not real." She stated._

"_Your own desires? So…this part of the garden shows your deepest desires?" I asked._

_Luna nodded. "Yes, like these children for instance. My desire is for the children of Ponyville to play in my garden, to enjoy my creation. It is something I have wished to see since I started creating it, but without whatever is missing from my garden, my desire will not come to pass." She said._

_I couldn't help but feel bad for her. "Oh, that's a shame. I think the kids would really like this place." I said._

"_I think so too. At least, I hope they do…Anyway, enough about my desires, let's see yours." Luna said before all the ghostly kids disappeared into the air; leaving the garden quiet._

_Suddenly, I heard a voice. "Matthew." It said in a whisper, the voice sounded female and it was familiar. _

_I then noticed something glowing beside me, I turned my head and was shocked by what I saw._

_It was Twilight, she looked white and see-through just like the kids were._

"_T…Twilight?" I said before the illusion Twilight placed her hoof on my lips to silence me._

_She moved closer before she sat down beside me and nuzzled her head on my neck. Even though it was a figment of my own mind, it still felt real. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close, not caring if it was an illusion._

_Luna looked at me with a warm smile. "It seems your deepest desire is to be home with Twilight Sparkle…So I best not keep you from her any longer." She stated._

_With that, the illusion Twilight disappeared from my arms and I felt the warm air turn into a strong wind. I looked over to Luna. "What's happening?" I shouted over the roaring wind._

"_Do not worry yourself, this wind is just a sign to say that you are about to wake up. Soon we'll both be back in the Real world." Luna yellowed over the wind._

_Just then, Luna lifted off the ground before she started heading up towards the moon as if she was being sucked there. _

_I didn't have time to react before a blinding light shined from the moon; causing me to close my eyes tightly._

**(Real World) Luna's bedroom**

I slowly began to open my eyes to see the light had stopped, I then noticed that I was looking up at a ceiling instead of a night sky.

I then realised I was lying on my back, I moved my hoof around to discover I was lying on a soft surface. I realised that I was on a bed.

I leaned up on the bed and looked around to see I was back in Luna's bedroom, I then noticed Luna standing at the end of the bed with a smile. "Did you enjoy our little trip, Matthew?" she asked.

I slowly got off the bed and continued to look around. "Err…yeah, it…it was good, definitely worth it." I said.

Luna raised her eye brow. "Is there something troubling you?" she asked.

I turned my head to face her. "Err…yeah, kinda. You see, how do I know this isn't another dream? I mean, is there supposed to be a difference I should notice?" I asked.

Luna then came up to me. "Hmm…well there is one way to tell if this is a dream or not. You see, as your _dream-self_, you cannot feel pain. I could because I was the only thing in there that was real, you were your dream-self at the time. But to tell if you are your _real-self_ now…well…"

Suddenly, Luna slapped her hoof hard against my right shoulder and I let out a small yell of pain as I held my shoulder with my left hoof. "There is your answer, you are awake." Luna stated.

"Oh, thanks for making sure." I said sarcastically as I held my shoulder.

The pain then died down and I placed my hoof back on the floor. "Well Luna, this day has been very enjoyable. And I really liked your…what'd you call it? Garden of Shadows?" I asked.

"Yes." Luna said with a nod.

I then continued. "Right, but I have to get back to Ponyville…Something about that illusion makes me think I've been away from Twilight for too long." I said with my ears down slightly.

Luna gave me a sweet smile. "Yes, you may go. Remember to mention what you have learned to Twilight Sparkle, she will help you to practice your magic. And please keep the Dream Realm and the Garden of Shadows a secret, it is not yet ready to be known by others." She said.

I nodded again. "Ok, it'll be between you and me for now. See ya, Luna. Thanks for the helmet, the lessons, and the trip to the Dream Realm." I said as I grabbed my saddle-bags and placed them on my back, I then headed towards the door to leave her room.

Luna smiled. "You are quite welcome. And here, I shall aid you in returning home." She said before her horn glowed.

Before I knew it, I disappeared in a flash of light; leaving Luna alone in her room before she walked out of her room and headed back down stairs to return to the throne room.

**Ponyville library**

With a flash of light, I reappeared in front of the library. I felt dizzy from the teleportation and I wobbled where I stood. "Oooh...I really don't like that…" I said in my dazed state.

I then shook it off and looked at the library, I walked up to the door and opened it to see Twilight sitting in front of a book-stand. There was a book sitting up on the stand, it was wide open and right in front of Twilight's face, she must've been reading one of her stories again.

I walked in and closed the door behind me, Twilight heard the door close and looked over to see me. She smiled before she stood up and walked over to me. "Hi, Matt. How was Luna?" she asked.

"She's fine, she's taking things pretty well. She's a little down, but she's more cheerful than she was before." I stated.

Twilight continued to smile as she looked around me. "Sooo?...what'd she give you? Is it in your saddle-bags?" she asked as she pointed at my bags.

I thought about how Twilight may react once she hears I have a helmet that gives me magic like a unicorn, I chuckled at the thought. "Twilight, it's something you'll never believe…but you're gonna love it." I said with a smirk.

Just then, we heard the door open. We looked to see Jeff walk into the library with his entire body shining and sparkling, the colour in his feathers were brighter than they usually were.

But he didn't looked pleased with his new look. He slammed the door before he started to storm passed us as we watched him, I opened my mouth to say something before he stopped and held his wing up.

"Don't, just don't." Jeff said before he continued to storm further into the library as we continued to watch him.

I returned my attention to Twilight. "I'll tell you later." I said, Twilight nodded in agreement.

**That night**

Me and Twilight were both lying in our bed, our heads lied on our pillows as I told Twilight about the helmet and the lessons I learned while I was at Luna's castle.

And my thoughts were right, she reacted with both excitement and joy.

"A helmet that gives you the powers of a unicorn? That's amazing, Matt." Twilight cheered.

I smiled. "Yeah, and Luna wants me to practice my magic here, so do you think you can teach me?" I asked.

Twilight's smile grew with excitement. "Yes, of course I will. Oh, where do we begin? There's so many spells to choose from, I don't know which one to start you off with." she said.

I chuckled and smiled at her. "Maybe we should do this tomorrow, I'm kinda tired from all that's happened today." I said.

Twilight smiled at me before her sweet smile turned into a sly one. "Ok…we can leave it, I have something else in mind anyway." She said.

I gave her a curious look. "Really, what?" I asked.

Twilight continued to smile slyly as she nudged up closer to me and rubbed her hoof on my chest. "If you remember, this morning I said we'd have some private time when got back form Luna's castle. Spike and the others are asleep, no one will interrupt us." she said.

I gave her an unsure look. "Twilight…I don't know, I thought we were waiting until after we were married." I said.

"We won't go that far, I just want to kiss and snuggle for a bit. There's nothing serious about that, is there?" Twilight asked with a sweet smile.

I smiled sweetly back before I nodded. "Ok, Twi. Get comfy with me." I said.

With that, Twilight nudged up closer until her body was touching mine. Twilight's face was right in front of mine as we smiled lovingly at each other, Twilight kept her hoof on my chest as our heads moved closer together.

Me and Twilight then took one last look in each other's eyes before started to kiss deeply with my arm wrapped around her.

We continued this for almost an hour without getting carried away in the moment. Eventually, we feel asleep cuddling each other in our arms, we both slept peacefully without any bad dreams.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

_**Note to readers**_**: Just to let you know, I check Equestria Daily and other things all the time to find any new information about the show. I want to share any info I find with all of you, I'll call it **_**Pony News**_** which will appear at the end of each chapter I write.**

**For example. **_**Pony news**_**: Episode 12 has been announced, it will be called **_**Games Ponies Play.**_

**Here's the summary: **_**"Princess Cadence invites Twilight and her friends to welcome the important Equestria Games inspector."**_

**There's not much to go by, but I'm sure we'll get more info in time. I've seen a screenshot showing the Crystal Empire and there seems to be some sort of arena that wasn't in the first 2 episodes, the new episode's most likely gonna take place there.**

**If you want me to start giving you Pony News, go to my profile and vote.**

**Here are the choices.**

"_**Yes, I would like Pony News**_**."**

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**Please remember to review!**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	40. Chapter 40: A surprising visit

**Hi everypony, welcome back.**

**That Discord episode was AWESOME, totally worth the wait. I hope this means Discord will appear more in the show.**

**Ok, the votes are in. 11 people want Pony News, while 2 don't. I think we have an obvious winner.**

**Pony News will be shown at the end of the chapter. **

_**Note**_**: There may not be any news to tell.**

**I had to change some of the lyrics in the song so they'd make sense for the story, but enjoy the chapter anyway. **

**(Warning: long chapter.)**

Chapter 40: A surprising visit

It's been a week since Luna gave me my magic helmet, Twilight's been teaching me how to use my magic like a real unicorn.

All the while, our wedding day was only a few days away. Every one of our friends was preparing for it.

Applejack was gathering ingredients to make the food.

Fluttershy was helping the birds practise the music.

Rarity was finally done with Twilight's dress.

Pinkie Pie was getting all the decorations ready for the reception, she got most of the decorations from under her bed.

And Rainbow Dash was….well….I don't really know what Rainbow Dash was gonna do at the wedding, but I bet it'll be awesome.

Anyway, tonight was a special night. It was the night of the _Moon Festival_, the one night in the year were everyone celebrates Luna's return to the throne after Twilight and the others stopped her with the Elements of Harmony.

The Mayor asked me if I could play at the festival tonight with my band, The Bronies. I mentioned I didn't know any songs that involved the moon or something like that, but she said it didn't have to, it could be about whatever.

After hearing this, I decided to accept her offer and we'd play at the festival.

Although, I was shocked to hear that Luna wasn't gonna come to the celebration. Twilight then told me that Luna _was_ gonna celebrate, but she'd be in Canterlot with Celestia.

I was happy that Luna was gonna spend time with Celestia for a bit, I figured she's seen enough of me for a lifetime.

But today wasn't only to celebrate Luna's return, this was also the same date when Twilight became friends with the rest of the main 6 and stayed in Ponyville, it was kinda like their own personal anniversary.

**Ponyville Park**

It was a sunny day in Ponyville. Me, Twilight, and Spike where in the park after leaving Jeff and Peewee in-charge of the library. Twilight brought me here so I could have more room to practise my magic.

I was wearing the Horned Helmet while Spike held a green leaf in front of me, I grunted as I tried to cast a spell that would change the leaf's colour to brown.

Twilight sat on the grass as she watched me try to perform the spell. "Come on, Matt. I performed this spell easily the first time I did it, it can't be that hard for you." she said.

"You're…a unicorn…this kind of stuff is supposed to be easy for you…" I said between grunts.

Twilight just rolled her eyes before she continued to watch us.

I continued to grunt hard before my crystal horn finally began to glow green, Spike held the leaf out as far as he could to avoid being effected by the spell's effects.

As my horn glowed brighter, the leaf in Spike's fingers began to glow green too. The leaf's colour began to change from green to a darker colour. "You're almost there, Matt. Keep it up." Twilight said as she kept her eyes on the leaf.

The leaf began to change from a dark green to a dark brown, the brown colour slowly became brighter as I tried as hard as I could to keep the spell going.

Until finally, the leaf's colour was now light brown. I stopped focusing on the spell and let myself relax a bit, I sat down on the grass as I breathed deeply, performing spells is a lot harder than Twilight and the other unicorns made it look.

Spike looked at the leaf before he looked at me with a large smile. "You did it." he cheered.

Twilight then came over to me while hovering a bottle of water beside her, she hovered the bottle up to me and I grabbed it with my hoof. "Thanks, Twi." I said before I drank some of the water from the bottle.

Twilight gave me a proud smile. "You're doing really well, Matt. Four different spells preformed in one day is impressive, you may even become as powerful as me someday." She said.

I took the bottle head out of my mouth and swallowed the last bit of water before I looked at her. "I wouldn't say that. There's no way I can learn as much as you, you're the magic queen." I said.

Twilight smiled and blushed. "Well…I'm not _that_ good, I still have a bit to learn myself you know." She said.

I then stood up off the grass and gave her a kind smile. "I think you're that good." I said.

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "Aww, thanks Matt."

Spike just watched with narrow eyes as Twilight and I smiled sweetly at each other. He cleared his throat which snapped us out of our love trance, we turned our heads to face him.

"Now that I have your attention." Spike said before he picked his clipboard up off the ground and looked at it.

"It took you a full eight minutes to perform that last spell, you took two minutes longer than Twilight when she first learn that spell." Spike stated.

Twilight let out a small gasp before she looked at me with a proud smile. "Two minutes longer, not bad for somepony who's never used magic before." She said.

I smiled back. "I guess so…a little more practise, and maybe I'll be able to do it in less than eight minutes." I said.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, now I think we should stop the lesson here, you have a lot to prepare for tonight." She said.

"Twilight, it's only one o'clock in the afternoon. We have hours to prepare." I said.

"Still, it's better than leaving everything to the last minute." Twilight stated.

"Yeah, you're probably right…as usual. Besides, I don't really like leaving Jeff and Peewee alone in the library." I said.

Twilight raised her eye brow. "Why, do you worry about them?" she asked.

I shook my head. "No, I worry about the _library_. Seriously, you can't leave those birds alone for one second." I said.

Twilight smiled with amusement as she shook her head. "C'mon, you. Let's go home, we still need to send a letter to Discord to ask if he can come down for tonight." She said.

"Yeah, we do. Let me just send my helmet away and we'll go." I said before Twilight nodded and took a few steps back.

With that, I focused my mind on my helmet before it started to glow. My helmet then disappeared in a flash of light, it's been getting easier to do that lately, I didn't even need to close my eyes anymore.

Once the helmet was gone, I looked over to Twilight. "Ok, let's go." I said.

Twilight then came closer to me before we started to walk side-by-side with my wing wrapped around her. "Come on, little bro." I called to Spike.

"Coming." Spike called, he started to follow us as we headed back to the library.

**Library**

After returning to the library and eating our dinner, we sent a letter to Discord up in Canterlot. It didn't take long for him to send a letter back, we were glad to read that he was free to come down tonight.

Me and Twilight were now in the living room. Twilight was helping me to pick a new spell to learn by showing me her faverate spell book.

We were both sitting on a cushion while Twilight hovered her spell book in front of us, we had to pick a spell that wasn't too hard for me to perform.

"I think we should work on the distance of your teleportation spell for your next lesson, we don't want you to teleport yourself someplace far away. Oh, or we could try a repairing spell. That way you'll be able to fix things that get broken." Twilight suggested.

I looked at her and gave her a small smile. "I guess we could try that, it could come in handy someday." I said before I looked back in the book and noticed a spell that caught my interest.

"Hey…what's this one do?" I asked while pointing my hoof at the sentence in the book.

Twilight looked at the sentence before she looked at me again with a frightened look. "Matt, that's not a spell for a beginner. That's a _pyro spell_, not only does it let you set things of fire, but it lets you shoot fire from your horn. It's very dangerous, even I don't know that one." She stated.

I could see that she was growing concerned, so I decided to take things easy for her. "Ok, don't worry. We'll skip that one and go with that repairing spell you mentioned a minute ago." I said softly.

Twilight gave me a sweet smile. "Thanks. We'll do it tomorrow, but right now…we need to think over what you're gonna do at the Moon Festival tonight." She said.

I waved my hoof. "Don't worry, I have everything under control. Me and the guys have been practising some songs over the last few weeks, and I know what we're gonna play tonight." I stated.

"Are you still gonna come with me to Sugar Cube Corner to celebrate the anniversary of my friendship with the girls?" Twilight asked with a hopeful smile.

I smiled back. "Of course I am, why would I miss-out on something like that?"." I said kindly.

Twilight smiled. "Thanks, Matt. That means a lot."

I gave her a sweet smile. "Hey, you know I'd do anything to make you happy, right?" I said.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, but you know you don't have to, right?" she asked.

"It's not a case of having to…it's a case of _wanting_ to." I answered with a warm smile.

We smiled warmly at each other as we looked in each other's eyes, we slowly leaned closer and prepared to kiss. But before we could, we heard a loud knock on the front door and we pulled away from each other.

We looked over to the door before we head another loud knock, I rolled my eyes. "Probably Pinkie Pie with an early surprise for our wedding." I said before I walked towards the door.

As I did, there was another loud knock. Whoever it was really wanted to come in. "Alright, alright, I'm coming." I called as I got closer to the door.

Spike, Jeff, and Peewee then came into the room from the kitchen. "What's with all the knocking and yelling?" Jeff asked with an irritated tone.

I stopped and turned my head around to face Jeff. "I'm just about to find that out." I said.

Just then, there was another loud knock and I turned my attention back to the door. The knocking was starting to irritate me as well, I grabbed the door-nob with my hoof before I pulled the door open. "Yes?" I asked in a slightly annoyed tone before I went wide-eyed at what I saw.

Two royal guards stood before me, they were both pegasi and they each had a firm look on their faces. I saw their looks and gulp hard.

Jeff saw the guards too and a look of worry came on his face, he quickly looked at Peewee. "Peewee, go upstairs and look under Matt and Twilight's bed. You'll see a small brown bag, get rid of it!" he said.

Peewee gave him a confused look. "Why?" he asked.

"Don't ask questions, just do it!" Jeff said in a louder tone, Peewee did as he said and quickly flew upstairs.

Meanwhile, I just stood there in the guard's gave. I then remembered how rudely I answered the door and laughed nervously. "Haha…I mean, can I help you?" I asked.

"Matthew and Twilight Sparkle?" One of the guards asked.

Once she heard her name, Twilight came up to us and stood beside me. "Yeah, that's us."

"I'm sorry to say this, but you're both under-arrest." The other guard said firmly.

Me and Twilight were more than shocked to hear this, what did we do? Why were we being arrested?

Jeff heard this and became even more worried, he then looked over to the stairs. "Peewee, hurry up and get rid of that bag!" he yelled up the stairs.

I was still shocked while Twilight was the first to react. "Under-arrest?...b-but what're the charges?" she asked.

Just then, the two guards stepped apart to reveal a third guard, only this one looked different from the others. He looked down at Twilight and smirked. "For not introducing me to your future husband." He said.

The moment Twilight saw him, she smiled largely. "_Shining Armor_." She said with joy before she and the guard shared a big hug.

This Shining Armor guy was a unicorn, he looked as big as Big Macintosh. He had a white coat, his mane and tail were dark blue with a light blue streak going through them (like how Twilight has a pink streak going through her mane and tail).

His armour also looked different from the guard's armour, the colour of his armour had more purple than gold. There was also a crest in the chest area of his armour, it looked like a shield with a star in the middle of it, the star resembled Twilight's cutie mark star.

"Twily, how've ya been?" Shining Armor asked before he and Twilight broke the hug.

Twilight kept her large smile as she looked up at him. "I've been great, how come you didn't tell me you were coming?" she asked.

"What? And miss the chance to see the look on your face when you thought you were being arrested? Not a chance." Shining Armor said with a smirk before he chuckled.

Twilight smiled with amusement. "You always knew how to play jokes like that." She said.

I kept my eyes on the pair of them as Spike rushed passed me. "Shining Armor." He said with a large smile.

Shining Armor looked down at him and smiled. "Spike, how've ya been, little dude." He said as he and Spike shared a small hug.

Spike broke the hug and looked up at him. "I've been great, thanks." He said.

I was more than confused by this, who was this guy? How does Twilight know him so well?...was he an ex-boyfriend from Canterlot? Once I thought of this, I became slightly worried. It soon became too much to bare and I had to find out the truth.

I then stepped forward and cleared my throat. "Umm…I hate to spoil this…_obvious reunion_…but who exactly are you?" I asked Shining Armor.

Before he could answer, Twilight spoke. "Oh that's right, you've never met him before. Matt, this is my big brother, Shining Armor." She said.

I looked at him with surprise, Shining Armor waved his hoof at me. "Hi, you must me Matthew. Twilight's told me a lot about you in her letters, you seem like a cool guy." He said before he held his hoof out to me.

I was still in surprise and shock as I took his hoof in mine and shook it up and down. Twilight has a brother? How come she never told me? I then released Shining Armor's hoof and turned my head to face Twilight. "Wait, so…he's your older brother?" I asked.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, he's my BBBFF." She stated.

I cocked my head as I looked at her with confusion, Twilight rolled her eyes. "Big Brother Best Friends Forever!" she said.

I then realised what she meant. "Ooooh…right, now I get ya." I said before a thought crossed my mind. "Wait, if he's your big best broth-…whatever, how come you've never mentioned him before?" I asked.

Shining Armor looked at Twilight with a raised eye brow. "You've never mentioned me to him?" he asked.

Twilight quickly looked back up to Shining Armor. "Of course I have, I've mentioned you loads of times." She said before she looked at me again.

"Remember last week when I told you I was gonna give him an invitation to our wedding?" Twilight asked.

I rubbed my chin with my hoof as I thought back to that day.

**(Flashback) library **

_Me and Peewee were each sitting by one side of a table looking down at the chess-board in front of us, I was trying to think of my next move._

_My mind was so focused on the game that I didn't notice Twilight poke her head through the door. "Matt, I'm going up to Canterlot to see my brother, I'm gonna give him an invitation to our wedding." She said._

_I didn't pay much attention to what she said, but I answered anyway. "That's good, sweet-heart. You do that." I said while continuing to stare down at the chess-board._

"_Ok, I'll be back later." Twilight said before she walked away from the door and closed it behind her._

_I then finally chose which piece to move and I moved it. _

"_What'd she say?" Peewee asked while also staring at the board._

"_I don't know, something about seeing her mother or something." I said as we both continued to play our game._

**(Flashback over)**

"…Oh yeah, I forgot about that." I said before I placed my hoof back down on the floor.

Twilight then looked back at Shining Armor. "Anyway, what're you doing here? Don't you have important business to do back at the castle?" she asked.

I raised my eye brow as I looked at Shining Armor. "You work at the castle? What do you do? Are you a guard?" I asked.

Shining Armor smirked again. "Close, but no. You're looking at the captain of Princess Celestia's royal guards." He said with pride.

I was once again surprised when I heard that. "You're the captain of the guards?" I asked with a surprised tone, Shining Armor nodded.

I then shook off my surprise before I spoke. "Whow…that's way cool, what's it like?" I asked with interest.

"I'll tell you this, it's not as easy as you think. I have to make sure my troops are doing everything right or else the blame falls on me, I have to go on long trips around Equestria, and I barely have any time to visit my family because of my duties. So in shorter words, it's a rough ride." Shining Armor stated.

My ears lowered slightly after hearing this. "…Oh…I'm sorry to hear that." I said.

Shining Armor smiled and waved his hoof. "Ah, it's ok. It was my dream to become a guard in the first place, guess I was better than I thought." He said.

Twilight then spoke. "But that's just the thing, what're you doing here if you're supposed to be doing your duties as captain of the guards?" she asked.

Shining Armor looked down at her. "Princess Celestia let me have the day off so I could celebrate the Moon Festival, I decided to celebrate it here with you guys, I figured it was finally time to meet my future brother-in-law and see what he's like." He said.

"But if you're the captain of the guards, where were you when Thorn took over the castle?" I asked curiously.

"Remember when I said my duties make me travel around Equestria, well I've been spending the last few months in one of the far kingdoms in Equestria, _Crydo Village. _Due to its small defences, the Princess assigned me to travel there once or twice a year to help protect the village's only ruler. I just got back a few weeks ago." Shining Armor explained.

"So you weren't here that whole time?" I asked.

Shining Armor nodded. "Yeah, but Princess Celestia told me about what happened. She told me about Thorn's strike on Princess Luna's castle, she even told me what happened to Captain Midnight Gave…I still can't believe he's really gone." He said with his ears down.

"Did you know him?" I asked curiously.

"Yeah, we trained together before we became guards, he was a close friend of mine." Shining Armor stated with slight sadness.

"He died trying to protect Princess Luna, he said so himself before he died." Twilight stated trying to make him feel a little better.

Shining Armor turned his head to face Twilight. "I know, he died with honour, and we should respect that." He said before he turned his attention back to me.

"I also know that Thorn is dead now, and that it was you who beat him. I only wish I was there when you did, I would've made that low-life pay." Shining Armor said with a look of anger in his eyes.

"Shining Armor!" Twilight said loudly, she sounded shocked at her brother's tone.

Shining Armor shook off his anger and looked at Twilight. "Sorry, Twily…I just get upset when I think about it…it makes me wonder if I could've done anything to prevent it, you know?" he asked.

Twilight got closer to him and placed her hoof on her shoulder. "There was nothing you could've done, even Princess Celestia didn't know about it until it was too late." She stated.

"I know, Twilight…Midnight was good, but…I guess Thorn was better." Shining Armor said.

I saw the sadness in his eyes before I stepped forward. "Look, lets calm down a bit. That was a dark night for all of us, let's stop talking about it and enjoy today, we don't want to be upset before the Festival." I said trying to change the subject.

Shining Armor then managed to make a small smile on his face as he looked at me. "You're right, Matt. What's done is done, and we can't change that no matter how much we mope about it. So to change the subject, what're you two up to before the Festival starts?" he asked in a more cheery tone.

"We were just getting ready to meet our friends at Sugar Cube Corner, you can join us if you like." Twilight said hoping he'd agree.

Shining Armor then shrugged. "Fine with me, I've wanted to meet your friends for a while now anyway." He said before he turned his head around to face the two guards behind him. "You two can go now, I'll take things from here." he said.

One of the guards nodded. "Yes, sir." He said before the two guards turned around and walked away. They both then took off into the sky and flew back up towards Canterlot.

Shining Armor then turned his attention back to us. "So, how long before we go to meet your friends?" he asked.

"Not long, we just need to take care of some stuff before we go. Come on in." Twilight said kindly as she stepped aside to let him pass.

Shining Armor smiled at her. "Thanks, Twily." He said before he walked past us and into the library.

Twilight then closed the front door before we looked at each other. "Some brother you have there, that whole thing with the guards really had me worried." I said.

Twilight smirked. "I know, I thought I saw your fur turn white when they said we were under-arrest." She said before she giggled slightly.

I blushed at this. "Well it wasn't my fault, how did you feel when that guy said that?" I asked.

Twilight kept her amused smile as she rolled her eyes. "Scaredy-pony." She said before she followed Shining Armor.

"Hey, you're talking to the Element of Bravery here." I called as she walked further away from me.

"Says the one who's scared of needles." Twilight said as she and Shining Armor walked into a different room.

"You said you wouldn't bring that up again." I called before I followed them into the other room.

Meanwhile, Jeff was still watching us with a confused look on his face. "Wait, so…we're not being arrested?" he asked out-loud.

At that moment, Peewee walked over to him while carrying a brown bag in his wings. "I found the bag, Jeff. Now what?" he asked.

Jeff turned his head to face him before giving Peewee a firm look. "What're you doin' with that? Give that back!" he said as he snatched the bag from Peewee's wings and flew off towards the stairs with the bag in his talons.

Peewee watched him with confusion. "Was it something I said?" he asked himself.

**Later: Ponyville streets**

With everything settled in the library, we were now on our way towards Sugar Cube Corner to meet up with the rest of the main 6. Spike, Jeff and Peewee had come along for the trip, Spike was walking beside me while Jeff and Peewee were riding on my back.

Shining Armor had left his captain armour back in the library, so now he looked like a regular pony.

On the way, Twilight was telling Shining Armor all about her friends without missing a single scrap of info. She mentioned Rarity's love for fashion, Rainbow Dash's need for speed, and Applejack's respect for her farm.

I just walked beside Twilight as she kept going on about what she did after she moved here, she even mentioned some of the things we did together before I proposed to her at the Gala.

Shining Armor paid full attention to her, hearing every word she said. Clearly, he was interested in what Twilight had done while in Ponyville.

It wasn't long before we finally arrived at Sugar Cube Corner. We walked up to the door to see a sign that said the words _Closed_ on it.

Me and Twilight were slightly confused before I knocked on the door with my hoof. After a few seconds, the door opened to reveal Pinkie Pie and she smiled at us. "Twilight, Mattie, I'm super glad you could come." She cheered.

Twilight smiled at her. "Of course we came, it's our Friendship Anniversary, I wouldn't miss this." She stated.

"Oh yeah, silly me, hehe. Anyway, come on in and join the party." Pinkie Pie said before she hopped away from the door.

"I'm guessing that was Pinkie Pie." Shining Armor said with an amused smile.

Twilight turned her head to face him. "Yep. Don't worry, she doesn't bite." She joked.

Shining Armor chuckled at that before we all entered Sugar Cube Corner and closed the door behind us.

Upon entering the shop, we saw Pinkie and the rest of the main 6 sitting by a large round table in the middle of the room.

The table they were sat on was blocking the way towards the counter, so this must've been why Pinkie closed the shop early, so they could celebrate their Friendship Anniversary without any customers complaining.

We all then headed over the table to join them. Once we got close enough, Rainbow Dash noticed us. "It's about time you guys got here, where've you been?" she asked.

"Sorry, girls. We had a bit of work to do at the library, but we're here now." Twilight said as we stood next to the table.

Just then, Rarity noticed Shining Armor standing beside Twilight. "Oh, and who's your new friend?" she asked curiously.

With that, Twilight wrapped her arm around Shining Armor's neck. "Everyone, this is my big brother, Shining Armor." She announced as Shining Armor waved his hoof at them.

They all had surprised looks on their faces before Applejack looked at Twilight. "I didn't know ya had a brother, where's he been all this time?" she asked.

Twilight turned her head to face her. "He lives up in Canterlot, but he's been away for a while." she explained.

After hearing this, Applejack turned her attention back to Shining Armor. "Well it's nice to meet ya, Shinin' Armor." She said with a smile.

Shining Armor looked at her a smiled back. "It's nice to meet you too…Applejack, right?" he asked.

Applejack nodded. "Yep, that's me." she answered.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie jumped up beside Shining Armor with a large smile on her face; causing him to flinch with surprise.

"You're Twilight's brother? Oh my gosh, I never knew Twilight had a brother, or any type of sibling for that matter. (Gasp) We should totally have a welcome party for you. Won't that be fun? Huh, huh, huh?" Pinkie Pie said quickly with excitement.

Shining Armor didn't really know how to respond to Pinkie's words, I watched before I sniffed the air to catch the scent of something cooking. I then gained an idea to help Shining Armor. "Urr, Pinkie. Do I smell something cooking?" I asked.

Pinkie looked over to me and smiled again. "Yeah, I'm making some special muffins for our party. As a matter of fact, I should probably go check on them before they get burnt." She said before she trotted away from the table and into the kitchen.

Shining Armor the turned his head to look down at Twilight. "Well, you weren't kidding when you said she was a bit…hyper." He said.

Twilight smirked. "Well, that's Pinkie Pie for ya." She said.

"Yeah, but we love her anyway." I added.

"Well now that you're all here, we can finally get this party started." Rainbow Dash asked sounding desperate.

Rarity then looked over to us again. "And what are you all still standing around for, come sit and join us." she said with a smile.

We all then sat down by the table as we waited for Pinkie Pie to come back. While we were doing that, Spike tried not to make eye contact with Rarity, he must still feel nervous after that whole incident with his greed.

Jeff and Peewee flew off my back and landed in front of me on the table.

After a few seconds, Pinkie Pie walked back into the room while balancing a tray of muffins on her head. "Alright, everypony. The muffins are ready." She announced as she came over to the table.

Once Pinkie reached the table, Twilight helped her by using her magic to lift the tray off her head and placed it down on the table. I could smell the muffins from where I was sat and they smell really good.

Fluttershy sniffed them before she looked at Pinkie Pie. "These muffins smell delicious. You've out-done yourself again, Pinkie." She stated.

"Thanks, I used a very special recipe." Pinkie Pie stated.

"Well I hope they taste as good as they smell, they look absolutely wonderful." Rarity said before she picked one up in her magic.

Me, Twilight, Shining Armor, and everyone but Rainbow Dash grabbed one. "I don't normally like muffins…but these do look good, and they smell good too. Ah what the hell, I'll try it." I thought.

While everyone took a bite out of their muffins, I took a bite out of mine and chewed it. To my surprise, they tasted delicious. I swallowed before I spoke. "Whow, I never thought a muffin would taste this good." I said.

Shining Armor chewed his muffin before he swallowed. "Yeah, these are awesome." He said before he looked at the others. So, is anything special gonna happen at the Festival tonight?" he asked.

Rarity tapped her chin before she spoke. "Well…Matthew's was asked to perform a song at the Festival with his band, what was the name again?" she asked herself.

"The Bronies." I answered.

Rarity nodded. "Oh yes, that was it. The Bronies…quite an odd name, if you ask me." she stated.

Shining Armor looked at me with raised eye brow and a smile. "I didn't know you had a band…I might have heard of it, who was in it again?" he asked.

"Well, I'm in it." I said.

"So am I." Jeff stated.

"Me too." Peewee added.

"Me three." Spike also added.

"Ok, but there was one more…someone easily recognised...who was it?" Shining Armor said, he rubbed his chin as he tried to figure it out.

I was about to tell him before there was a bright flash of light and Discord appeared behind him. "ME!" he said loudly; causing Shining Armor to let out a small yell of fright.

He spun around fast to see Discord, he then glared up at him. "Oh, it's you…now I remember." He said before he spun back around to face the table.

Discord huffed. "Well, it's not pleasant seeing you again either." He said as he crossed his arms.

Twilight had a look of surprise on her face. "Wait, you two have met before?" she asked.

Shining Armor turned his head to face Twilight. "Dah, everyone can see this creep wondering around the castle with those dogs of his…as if he was _up to something_." he said clear enough for everyone to hear.

"I already told you, I've left that life behind. I've reformed, I'm not up to anything." Discord stated.

Shining Armor turned around and glared at him again. "Tell it to someone who's willing to believe any word you say." He said strongly before he turned back around to the table.

Discord growled down at him. "Oh, you wanna go? Then let's go." He said before he snapped his fingers.

With a flash of light, Discord was now wearing a pair of red shorts with red boxing-gloves on his hands. He lifted his fists up and trotted on the spot. "Put 'em up, put 'em up." he said with a glare.

I was confused by this, but I was gonna find out what was going on. "What's wrong with you two, why are you at each other's throats?" I asked.

With another flash of light, Discord's shorts and boxing-gloves disappeared before he pointed at Shining Armor. "He started it. I was walking through the castle, minding my own business, when guess-who showed up and attacked me." he said.

Shining Armor quickly spun around with an angered look on his face. "I did not, you liar."

Discord glared down at him. "You were pointing your spear at me." he stated.

"Because I thought you were up to your old tricks, Twilight told me all about you in her letters." Shining Armor stated strongly.

"Did she happen to mention that I changed my ways a few months ago, and did she also mention that I tried to protect Celestia from Thorn?" Discord asked with a raised eye brow.

"No, she didn't." Shining Armor stated.

Just then, Discord slivered under the table before he came back up beside Twilight. "Do you mind telling your dear brother that I'm not up to anything _and_ that he's acting like a child." He said with his arms crossed again.

"I'm acting like a child? Says the one who likes to make it rain chocolate milk." Shining Armor said loudly.

Pinkie Pie then stood up with her front hooves on the table. "Hey, who _doesn't_ like chocolate milk rain?" she said loudly.

Twilight then stood up too. "Everypony calm down." She ordered before she looked up at Discord. "Discord, stop making my brother get in a bad mood." She said, Discord just crossed his arms and huffed.

Twilight then looked at Shining Armor. "Shining Armor, stop jumping to conclusions about Discord. I'm sorry I didn't tell you he was reformed, I kept forgetting to add it into the letters I sent you." she explained.

"Yeah, he really has changed." I said hoping he'd believe the truth.

"Don't tell me you guys really believe Discord, he's just acting innocent so he can cause chaos again when he gets the chance." Shining Armor stated.

"Look, Shining…I know how you feel, I didn't believe it myself the first time. But he proved me wrong, he proved to me that he's really turned over a new leaf. So c'mon, give the guy a chance like we did." I said hoping he'd agree.

Shining Armor looked up at Discord who was giving him sad puppy-dog eyes while trembling his bottom lip, he then looked at us again. "I'm not sure, Matt…" he said.

Twilight then placed her hoof gently on Shining Armor's shoulder. "Please, for me?" she said while giving him puppy-dog eyes too.

Discord's eyes definitely didn't work on him, but Twilight's eyes…well, he just couldn't refuse to them. Shining Armor let out a sigh before he gave Twilight a small smile. "Ok, Twily. I'll give him a chance, but this doesn't mean I trust the guy." He stated.

Me and Twilight smiled at this news. "That's ok, just as long as you'll try." Twilight said.

Shining Armor chuckled. "Well how could I say no? You used those big eyes of yours on me." he said before he turned his attention to me.

"I swear, her eyes are enchanted. When she was just a filly, she use to use them on our Dad just to get some cookies before dinner." Shining Armor said as he tussled Twilight's hair with his hoof.

I let out a small laugh as I looked at Twilight. "You did not." I said.

Twilight smirked. "I sure did, he use to fall for it every time. Ha, he use to get in so much trouble with our Mom. Haha." She laughed.

We all shared a small laugh at this before Discord came up between me and Twilight and wrapped his arms around us. "So now that everyone is all friendly, what's say we get this party really started?" he said before he snapped his fingers again.

With another flash of light, the entire room turned into a disco ring. The floor was flashing different colours while a disco-ball hung on the ceiling, I was in so much surprise that I didn't notice the rollerblades on all four of my hooves.

"What the friv just-WHAA!" I yelled as I slipped and fell to the floor.

I leaned up on the floor to see that everyone was wearing rollerblades and they rolled around as they were struggling to keep their balance. Even Spike, Jeff and Peewee were wearing rollerblades, only they were wearing smaller than ours.

I slowly got back onto my hooves and wobbled as I tried to keep myself from slipping again. As I stood there in a struggling state, Discord with rollerblades on his feet rolled past me while skating like a pro, he was even wearing a rollerblade on his tail.

"What's wrong, Matt? Never heard of Disco Rollerblading before? Or as I like to call it, Discord Rollerblading." Discord said as he skated around me.

As I continued to struggle to stand in place, I noticed Twilight across the room starting to slip and I managed to get to her just in time to catch her.

As Twilight tried to get back up, Shining Armor slowly rolled past us while keeping perfectly still. "Are you still sure about this guy?" he asked.

With that, I looked at Discord with a serious look. "Alright, Discord. You've had you fun, now turn it back."

"Are you kidding?" a voice said. We looked where it came from to see Pinkie Pie skate across the room, she was as good as Discord. "The shop's never been this much fun before, why change _this_ back? Weeee!" she said as she skated away with a large smile.

"For once, I actually agree with her." Rainbow Dash said as she also skated past us.

"Normally, I don't go along with Discord's shenanigans. But I have to admit, this is more enjoyable than what we previously planned. We were looking for a good source of entertainment anyway, why not spend our Friendship Anniversary rollerblading?" Rarity asked as she started to skate gracefully across the floor.

Me and Twilight looked at each other before she let out a sigh. "Fine, we'll skate for a while. But once we're done, Discord has to turn the shop back to normal." Twilight said strongly.

At that moment, Discord skated by use. "Deal." He said, he then jumped in the air and spun around a few time before landing back down on his skates.

Me and Twilight took it slow as we began to skate along the floor, we'd always catch each other if either of us slipped.

Even though Shining Armor was still getting the hang of skating, he still held his suspicions over Discord.

**That night: Town Square **

After celebrating Twilight's Friendship Anniversary, Discord changed Sugar Cube Corner back to normal and we set off to the Moon Festival.

The clear sky was black with sparkling stars and the full moon, the Festival was being held in the Town Square and everypony in town was there.

As we all entered the Town Square, with Discord along with us, I noticed a large stage in front of the Town Hall, that must be were me and the other guys would play our song.

I also saw a long table full of food and drinks, there was a large round yellow cake in the middle of it. Twilight told me what that cake was earlier today, she called it _The_ _Moon Cake_. It's supposed to be the Festival's main cores.

Some of the ponies were playing the games they had there, some were playing a ring-toss game, the pumpkin-launching game, and a strength game.

As we got further into the Festival, Twilight smiled as she admired her surroundings. "Wow, it all looks so wonderful. Hard to believe it was only last year when we used the Elements for the first time to bring Luna back." She said.

I looked at her with a raised eye brow. "So this must be the first Moon Festival ever, right?" I asked.

Twilight turned her head to face me and nodded. "Yeah…anyway, what should we do first? We still have half-an-hour left before your show." She said.

With that, I looked around at all the games to see if there was any that I'd like to play. I then looked over to the Pumpkin Launching game and it caught my interest.

"How about we play that Pumpkin Launching game? I've always wanted to try that one." I said.

Everyone looked over to it and Shining Armor smiled. "Ok, I'll try that too. Looks easy, kinda reminds me of the catapults back up in Canterlot, I always was good at using them." he stated.

I looked up at him with a smirk on my face. "Oh yeah? Think you can beat me?" I said.

Shining Armor looked down at me and smirked back. "Are you challenging me?" he asked.

I nodded. "Yeah I am. In fact, I challenge you to this game, the ring toss, and the strength game." I said still smirking.

Shining Armor rubbed his chin with an interested look on his face. "Interesting, what's the prise when one of us wins?" he asked.

"Nothing, it's just a little fun. What's wrong? Scare of losing…Shiny?" I teased.

Shining Armor chuckled. "Oh, now you're gonna get it. You're so on, let's see if the Captain of the Guards can beat the Hero of Canterlot in a few games?" he said before we both headed over towards the Pumpkin Launching game.

Twilight and the others watched us as we walked away from them. "…Wow…they've only known each other for a few hours and they're already competing against each other." Twilight said with slight amusement.

"Well, at least they're doing it out of fun instead of aggression. I can't imagine what would happen if they were getting at each other's throats." Rarity stated.

Twilight turned her head to face her. "Neither do I, and I try not to think about it." she said before they all started to follow us towards the game.

Meanwhile, Shining Armor and I had already been set up with our catapults loaded with one pumpkin. Our targets were not far away, but far enough to make it a bit difficult to hit. Twilight and the others finally joined us and watched.

"Ooooh, this is so exciting." Pinkie Pie said with excitement with a box of popcorn in her front hooves, she then dipped her head into it and started eating the popcorn inside.

Me and Shining Armor faced each other with grins on our faces. "Ready, Matt?" Shining Armor asked.

"You bet your ass I am." I answered before we both grabbed our catapults with our front hooves and pulled them back. I could feel the catapult getting harder to bend back, it was clearly ready to fling the pumpkin off into the air.

"C'mon, Matt. Show this guy how it's done." Jeff called from Twilight's back.

Me and Shining Armor looked at each other for one last time before we both released out catapults and they flung the pumpkins off in the air towards our targets.

We all kept our eyes of Shining Armor's pumpkin, seeing how it was ahead of mine. We were all surprised to see the pumpkin spatter directly on the target, earning a cheer from the small crowd. Shining Armor definitely looked pleased with his success.

We all then turned our attention to my pumpkin, I was disappointed and embarrassed to see it fly high above the target and land somewhere far away into the Ever Free Forest.

This earned a few small laughs from the crowd, but I wasn't bothered by it because I found it funny myself.

At that moment, Shining Armor came over to me while laughing slightly. "Haha, nice shot, Matt. That pumpkin flew clear out of Ponyville, who knows where that think could've gone." He said.

I gave him a small smile. "Hopefully nowhere important." I said.

Shining Armor nodded. "Yeah, ready to play the next game?" he asked.

I smirked at him. "Totally, but don't think you'll win this time." I said.

"We'll see about that, tough guy." Shining Armor said before he started to head over to the ring toss game; leaving me and the others watching him walk away.

Twilight came up beside me, I looked over to the splattered pumpkin on the target before I looked at Twilight. "Well then, he wasn't joking when he said he was good with a catapult." I said.

Twilight smiled. "Trust me, Matt. He's used more than a catapult in his years as the captain of the guard. By the way, why are you two competing against each other anyway? Are you two trying to prove something like Rainbow Dash and Applejack once did?" she asked.

I gave her an honest smile. "Don't worry, Twi. We're just having a bit of fun with each other, it's not like we're trying to prove who's the best." I said softly.

"Well…ok, just as long as you two don't get swept up in the competition." Twilight said.

I nodded. "We won't, now let's get over to the ring toss before Shining Armor wins again." I said before we all started to head over to the game to join up with Shining Armor.

As we did, Discord hovered beside Pinkie Pie and looked down at her with excitement. "Oh, this is going to be exciting. Matthew vs. Shining Armor, who will win?" he said.

Pinkie Pie returned his excited smile. "Only one way to find out." She said before they both hurried to watch us play.

For a few minutes, Me and Shining Armor continued to play the games for a while.

I was able to win the ring toss game and won a teddy bear. Seeing how me and Twilight didn't wanted it, I kindly gave it to Fluttershy and she was very thankful. She said it would keep her company at night when Angel was asleep.

Then came the strength game, where we would prove who was the strongest. I went first and managed to get a high score, but Shining Armor managed to hit the bell.

Our personal competition was over and Shining Armor was victorious, he won two games while I won one. However I wasn't troubled by this, it was only friendly fun and it didn't mean anything. I knew anyone could win those games, I just had bad luck.

Some of the ponies had set up round tables near the stage, they must've been set there for everyone to watch me up on stage with the guys.

While Twilight and the others were playing some more games, me and Shining Armor were taking a break and were now sat around one of the tables.

I sat beside Shining Armor as we all made small talk. "So, what was Twilight like back when she was a filly?" I asked.

"Well, she was very interested in how magic worked. When she watched Princess Celestia raise the sun in the Summer Sun Calibration, she was inspired to learn more about magic. That's how she became the Twilight you know now." He said.

I knew what he was talking about, he was talking about when Twilight gained her cutie mark and became the Princess's student. "Yeah, I know. Twilight's told me that." I said.

Then for some reason, Shining Armor's smile faded away. I noticed this and became concerned. "What's up, Shining?" I asked.

"Matt…can you promise me something?" Shining Armor asked.

I nodded slightly. "Sure, what is it?" I said.

"…Listen, I don't want you to think I have to wrong idea about you. I mean, you're a great guy and I see why Twilight loves you…but that's just the point, she loves you very much. She's a great girl and she deserves to be happy, so I want you to promise me you'll be good to her once you two are married." Shining Armor said with a serious tone.

I gave him an honest face. "Shining, I'm not that type of guy. I love Twilight as much as she loves me, and I'll do anything to make her happy. I promise, I'll be good to her for the rest of my life."

My serious look then turned into a small frown as my ears dropped. "She's the best thing that's ever happened to me…I'd never do anything to upset her…never." I said as I looked down at the table in front of me.

Shining Armor looked at me with concern before her placed his hoof on my back. "Hey…I didn't mean anything…I don't really know why I said that." He said.

I looked back up to face him. "Don't worry, you're just being a protective brother and I don't blame you for that. But I'm being serious, I'll give Twilight all the love she deserves, I will never hurt her…" I said in a slightly strong tone.

With that, Shining Armor smiled down at me. To my surprise, he caught me in a head-lock and started noogying my head. "I know you won't, lover boy." He said playfully.

I chuckled before I pulled myself out of his head-lock. "Haha, Ok…So we're cool?" I asked as I held one of my hooves out to him.

"We're cool." Shining Armor answered before we bumped our hooves together.

Suddenly. "Oh Matthew, here you are." A voice said behind me, I turned around to see the Mayor smiling at me.

"Oh hey, Miss Mayor. Let me guess, it's time for us to go on?" I asked while smiling back.

The Mayor nodded. "Yes, it is. Your show is to start in five minutes, you should get ready with your friends before you go up there." she stated.

"Don't worry, Mayor. We'll be ready in a flash, and I mean that literally." I said.

"Well alright then, good luck up there." the Mayor said before she walked away from our table.

I then turned my attention back to Shining Armor. "I should probably go tell the guys we're about to go on." I said as I stood up.

Shining Armor stood up too. "Yeah, and I'll go get Twily and her friends." He said.

I nodded before we both went separate ways to find everyone.

A few minutes later, I was up on stage with Spike, Jeff, Peewee, and Discord. We all stood in the sight of all the ponies watching us from the tables, including Twilight, Shining Armor and the rest of the main 6.

Discord had already zapped up the instruments, Peewee was handling the lights, and Jeff was ready to sing with me this time. We were all ready to go.

At that moment, the Mayor came up on stage and stood in front of a microphone on a stand, she tapped it with her hoof before she spoke into it.

"Welcome everypony to the Moon Festival music show, I hope you've all had a wonderful time celebrating the anniversary of Princess Luna's return to the throne. Now I am happy to introduce the band who will be performing for us tonight, please welcome The Bronies!" The Mayor announced.

With that, the Mayor stepped down from the stage as the crowd cheered. I could hear louder cheers coming from Twilight's table, Rainbow Dash placed the tip of her hoof in her mouth before she let out a loud whistle.

I stepped up in front of the microphone before I turned my head around to Jeff. "Ready?" I asked.

"Ready's my middle name." Jeff stated with a grin.

With that, I turned my head back around to face the microphone before I leaned my head to it. "Urr…thank you all for attending, I should probably warn you that the song we chose doesn't really involve the moon, but we still hope you enjoy it." I said.

Jeff turned around to face Discord before he pointed at him, telling him to start playing.

Discord nodded before he started playing his drum-set in a beat followed by a tune from Spike on his electric guitar.

Jeff walked up onto my head so we could share the microphone, I waited until my part before I leaned my head in front of the microphone again and began to sing.

**Me: **"_Life's like the road that you travel on, there's one day here and the next day gone_

_Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand, sometimes you turn your back to the wind_

_There's a world outside every darkened door, where blues won't haunt you anymore_

_Where the brave are free and lovers soar, come ride with me to the distant shore_

_We won't hesitate…to break down the garden gate…there's not much time left today, yeeeah."_

**Me and Jeff: **_"Life is a highway…I wanna ride it all night long…_

_If you're going my way…I wanna drive it all night long…"_

**Me: **_"Through all these cities and all these towns, it's in my blood and it's all around_

_I love you now like I loved you then, this is the road and these are the hooves_

_To Mozambique to those _**(With Jeff) **_Memphis nights_

_The Khyber Pass _**(With Jeff) **_to Vancouver's lights_

_Knock me down and back up again, you're in my blood and not a lonely colt_

_There's no load I can't hold, a road so rough, this I know_

_I'll be there when the light come in, just tell 'em we're survivors."_

**Me and Jeff: **_"Life is a highway…I wanna ride it all night long…woow_

_If you're going my way…I wanna drive it all night long (All night loooong) _

_Life is a highway…I wanna ride it all night long…_

_If you're going my way (If you're goin' my way)…I wanna drive it all night long (All night loooong)_

…_there was a distance between you and I,I,I,I, (Between you and I)_

_A misunderstanding once…but now, we look it in the eyyyyye…ooooh, yeah."_

**(Spike's guitar solo)**

**Me: **_"There ain't no load that I can't hold, a road so rough, this I know._

_I'll be there when the light comes in, tell 'em we're survivoooors."_

**Me and Jeff: **_"Life is a highway…I wanna ride it all night long (All night long, yeah)_

_If you're going my way…I wanna drive it all night long…yeah_

_Life is a highway (Life is a highway)…I wanna ride it all night long. Oooooh, yeah_

_If you're going my way (You're going my way)…I wanna drive it all night long (All night long, yeah)_

_Life is a highway…I wanna ride it all night long (Yeah, I wanna drive it all night long, baby)_

_If you're going my way (You're goin' my way)…I wanna drive it all night long (All night loooong)"_

**(Spike's last guitar solo)**

Once Spike finished his solo, the song was over and everypony cheered loudly. Especially Twilight's table, Shining Armor looked very impressed.

As the crowd continued to cheer, my face burned with embarrassment as I tried to hide it with a smile. I always did get embarrassed when I was up on a stage with everyone watching me.

"Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the Festival." I said into the microphone before we all walked off the stage.

Twilight, Shining Armor and the others then came up to us as we stepped off the stage. "Wow, Matt. That was great, didn't know you had it in you." Shining Armor said in an impressed voice.

"Hey I sang too, you know." Jeff stated while still standing on top of my head.

Shining Armor turned his attention to him. "Oh, yeah…good pipes." He said as if he didn't have anything else to say.

Just then, Pinkie Pie hopped up in front of me. "Wow, Mattie. That was totally awesome, it was better than the last song you played with the band, or was the last song you played better than this one? I can't remember, it was soooo long ago. But still, you rocked up there." she said with another large smile.

I smiled back. "Err…thanks, Pinkie. I'm glad you enjoyed it." I said.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash shot up between us with an irritated look on her face. "Yeah, yeah, we all know Matt's band is cool. Can we please go back to playing in the Festival now? It's almost over." She said.

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Cool ya jets there, Rainbow. We're still talkin' to Matt and the rest of the guys." She stated.

I looked over to Applejack and waved my hoof. "Nah, you lot go right ahead and enjoy yourselves. Do let us hold you back." I said kindly.

A large smile appeared on Rainbow Dash's face. "Yes!" she cheered before she shot off to play in the Festival.

Fluttershy then looked at me. "Are you sure you don't want us to stay with you?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, you go have fun. I'm gonna spend some personal time with Twilight." I said before I looked over to her. "Wanna go play that Pumpkin Launching game again, Twi? Maybe I'll hit the target this time." I said.

Twilight smirked at me. "Yeah, _maybe_." She said.

I smirked back. "Oh, you think I can't do it? Well let's find out, shall we?"

Twilight's smirk turned into a small grin. "Oh yeah, but there's only one thing you have to do first…you gotta beat me there if you want the first turn." She stated before she galloped passed me.

I watched her with amusement before I looked at Shining Armor and the others. "Gotta love her." I said before I galloped after her.

Suddenly, Rarity noticed a few shopping stalls across the Town Square. She saw that one of them was selling a bunch of different jewels and smiled with a twinkle in her eyes. "Oh, look at those gems. They would look gorgeous on my designs." She thought.

She then turned her attention to the others. "You all carry on without me, I'm going over there to observe those delightful looking jewel they're selling." She stated while pointing at the stall with her hoof.

Once he heard that word, Spike gave her his full attention. "Jewels?" he said to himself before he shot up beside Rarity. "Mind if I join you?" he asked her.

Rarity smiled down at him. "Why of course you can, it's nice to have a little friendly company with me while I do my shopping." She said before they both headed over to the stalls.

It wasn't long before everyone else went off to enjoy the rest of the Festival; leaving Shining Armor alone with none-other than Discord by his side.

They both looked at each other before a large grin grew on Discord's face. "Hey, the arcade's near-by, wanna play a few rounds of air-hockey?" he said.

Shining Armor looked up at him with a raised eye brow.

"I won't use any magic, I promise." Discord stated before a halo appeared above his antlers.

Shining Armor gave it some thought before a smirk came on his face. " You're on, but we have to be back later. I don't want Twily to think I left without saying goodbye." he said.

Discord's halo disappeared before he smiled with delight. "Don't worry, we will. And I'll get us to the arcade in style." He stated before he snapped his fingers and they both disappeared in a flash of light.

**The next day: Ponyville train station **

After spending the night at our house, Shining Armor was now ready to go back up to Canterlot to continue his duties as captain of the guards.

Discord had already gone back up there, so we didn't have to worry about him.

Me, Twilight and Spike walked Shining Armor over to the train station to catch the next train up to Canterlot. Jeff and Peewee were once again left in-charge the library, they didn't really want to come anyway.

We stood in the station's platform as we said our goodbyes to Shining Armor, Twilight went up to him and they both shared a loving hug. "Oh, I hope you come back soon." She said as she hugged him.

"Don't worry, Twily, I will. The Princess doesn't keep me on duty _every_ day." Shining Armor stated before they separated from each other.

"Will you be back to attend our wedding?" I asked.

Shining Armor turned his head to face me. "Trust me, nothing will keep me away from being there." he said before he looked back down at Twilight. "Mom and Dad will be there too, so don't worry about it, we'll all be there." He said.

Twilight smiled warmly at him. "I know…I love you." she said.

"I love you too, Twily." Shining Armor said sweetly.

I couldn't help but smile warming as I saw them hug again.

"Everypony all aboard for Canterlot." The conductor yelled before the other ponies on the platform headed into the train.

Twilight and Shining Armor separated "You better get going, you don't want to miss your train." Twilight said.

Shining Armor nodded before he looked down at Spike standing beside Twilight and tussled his head. "See ya, Spike." He said.

"See ya, Shining Armor." Spike said.

Shining Armor then finally turned his attention to me. "See ya, Matt…keep up the good work." He said.

I nodded. "I will." I said before I wrapped my arm around Twilight and pulled her closer to me.

With that, Shining Armor smiled before he turned around and walked towards the train before he got into it.

We watched as he poked his head out of one of the train-car windows and waved to us, I removed my hoof from Twilight as we waved back. The train then started to move.

We stayed in the platform until the train was far away from the station. I let out a small exhale before I looked at Twilight beside me, she had a small frown on her face before I placed my hoof on her shoulder.

"It's alright, we'll see him again. And he'll definitely be here for our wedding, I'll make sure of it." I said trying to help her.

Twilight looked at me and smiled sweetly. "It's ok, Matt. I know he'll come…anyway, we should get home, you still have more spells to learn." She said.

I nodded. "Lead the way…Twily." I joked.

Twilight giggled at what I said before we all walked towards the steps on the left side of the platform. Once we got off the platform, we headed back towards town to go home.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**The song I used is called "**_**Life is a Highway" **_**from the Pixar animated movie "**_**Cars**_**" I do not own anything.**

_**Pony News**_**: Episode 13 has been announced, the name of the episode is "**_**Magical mystery cure**_**" here's the summary.**

"_**When Twilight casts a spell that switches the Cutie Marks and destinies, the only way to reverse the spell is by writing her own magic.**_**"**

**I wonder how this one will turn out, we won't know until February 16****th****.**

**Anyway, you'll be glad to know that the next chapter will finally be the wedding chapter. **

**If you have any title ideas for the chapter, please let me know in a review or a PM. hope you're all looking forward to it.**

**Please remember to review. **

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	41. Chapter 41: A wedding to remember

**Well everypony, this is it. The chapter you've all been waiting for, I've been waiting to write this since I started.**

**I'd like to dedicate this chapter to 2 of my faverate readers. **_**ShiningShadow1965**_** and **_**Biggmomma46**_**, who are also going to get married someday. The date of their wedding is still unknown, but let's wish them the best :D**

**Anyway, on with the chapter. Please enjoy!**

Chapter 41: A wedding to remember 

It's been a week since the Moon Festival and it was finally the day that Twilight and I have been waiting for, our wedding day.

The altar was ready in the gazebo, the decorations were up in the Town Square, and everyone was getting ready to attend.

A few days ago, Princess Celestia gave us some magical paper. She explained that the paper can be sent to any world of our choice, I instantly knew why she gave it to us. Once we wrote a message on the paper, Spike burnt it and it hopefully teleported to England for my family to receive.

**Ponyville Library **

I was upstairs in the library getting ready to go to the gazebo, Spike and Jeff were with me. Seeing how I didn't have many suits, I decided to wear my tuxedo that Rarity made for me a long while ago.

Spike was wearing a black tuxedo with a black top-hat, while Jeff was wearing nothing but a small black bow-tie.

I sat in front of the mirror while Spike examined how I looked, he rubbed his chin as he looked up at me. After a second, he reached up to my neck and adjusted my black bow-tie.

After he finished, he smiled with satisfaction before he released my bow-tie. "There, all perfect." He said.

I looked down at him with a slightly worried look. "Are you sure? How does my suit look? Is my collar straight? Please tell me there isn't a stain anywhere!" I said as I looked around my body.

"Don't worry, I've made sure there's nothing wrong with your suite. Trust me, you look fine." Spike stated.

I gave him a thankful smile. "Thanks, Spike. I appreciate this, I really need to look good today." I said in a slight nervous tone.

Spike smiled back. "Don't mention it, Matt. I still can't believe it, you and Twilight are finally getting married. It feels like forever since you proposed to her." He said.

I nodded in agreement. "I know how you feel, Spike. It feels like we've been waiting years for this day, and now that it's finally come…I don't know what to do." I said.

At that moment, Jeff flew off the bed and landed on Twilight's make-up desk in front of me, he looked up at me with his wings crossed. "What do ya mean you don't know what to do? You've been talkin' about this day none-stop for months, please don't tell me you're gettin' cold hooves." He said.

I looked down at him. "Of course I'm not getting cold-hooves, I'm happy I'm marrying Twilight…I just can't believe it's finally here." At that moment, a joyful smile growing on my face. "I…I'm getting married…"

Jeff then smiled at me again. "And we're all very happy for you and Twilight. I may not know much about it, but I can tell when I see true love. And when I see you and Twilight together, I don't think there's any love more true." He said kindly.

I gave him a warm smile. "Thank, Jeff." I said.

Suddenly, there was a large flash of light before Discord appeared beside me; causing us all to flinch in surprise. Once we all saw it was him, we calmed down. "Discord, you know I don't like it when you do that." I said.

"Well how else do you expect me to make a good entry? Walk through the front door? Talk about boring. Anyway, it's time to focus on the real objective, how do you feel?" Discord asked.

I rubbed one of my front hooves against the floor as my ears lowered slightly. "…excited…but also kinda nervous." I admitted.

Discord waved his lion hand. "A common feeling for a groom, it's perfectly normal. Trust me, you'll feel fine once it gets started." He said.

"I hope so, Discord…so…have you seen Twilight yet?" I asked curiously.

Discord shook his head. "I'm afraid not, I'm not allowed to see her before the wedding." He answered.

I understood this and nodded "Yeah, me neither."

"You know, I'll never understand that rule. Why isn't the groom allowed to see the bride before the wedding? I mean, what's the point?" Jeff said out-loud.

Spike turned his head to face him and shrugged. "It's a wedding thing, I'd just go with it." he said.

Just then, Peewee flew in from the open window and landed on the bed. We all turned our attention to him, he looked slightly out of breath. "Peewee, are you ok?" I asked with concern.

Peewee looked up at me. "Matt…everything at the altar is ready…all the guests are starting to arrive…you better get over there." he said between breaths.

My eyes went slightly wide as I felt my nervousness grow. "Wait, you mean…it's time?...already?...as in, this minute?" I asked slightly loud.

Discord then smiled with delight. "Oh, this is just too exciting. I best wear my good suit." He said before he snapped his fingers.

With a flash of light, a light blue tuxedo with golden buttons and a white collar appeared on Discord's body. He then reached down and took Spike's top-hat. "Hey!" Spike yelled.

Discord held Spike's hat upside-down before he reached into it with his talon hand and pulled out another top-hat. But instead of black, it was light blue to match his suit. "Ta-da." Discord said with an amused smile.

Spike crossed his arms as he gave Discord an annoyed look. "Yeah, neat trick. Now give me back my hat." He demanded.

Discord looked down at him with his eye-lids half shut. "Oh yeah, here." he said before he gave Spike his top-hat back, Spike then placed it back on his head.

Discord put his own top-hat on before he turned his attention back to me. "So, is the groom ready for his big day?" he asked.

I could feel my body temperature rise as I became even more nervous. "Umm…I…I guess so." I said nervously.

"Ok then, come on." Discord said before he flapped his wings and flew down the stairs.

While Spike and Peewee followed him, Jeff looked at me and noticed the troubled look on my face.

He flew down beside me and placed his wing on my right leg, I looked down at Jeff to see his comforting smile. "It'll be alright, you can do this." He said.

I smiled down at him. "Thanks, Jeff….well, we best get over there. I don't want to be late for my own wedding." I said before I lowered my right wing down for Jeff to climb up.

Jeff climbed up my wing on onto my back. "No, you don't." he said.

Now that I was finally ready, it was time to go to my biggest party ever.

I walked down the stairs with Jeff on my back. Once down stairs, Spike looked up at me. "You ready?" he asked.

I nodded. "…Yeah, I'm ready." I said as calmly as I could, Spike smiled proudly at me.

After that, we all walked towards the front door before we left the library. Once outside, we started walking to the gazebo where my wedding's going to be held.

**Meanwhile: Rarity's boutique **

While I was heading to the gazebo, Twilight was still getting ready at Rarity's boutique.

Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash were Twilight's brides-maids, so they were helping her to get ready for the wedding.

Twilight was inside one of Rarity's dressing rooms while the rest of the main 6 waited for her to try on the dress. "Is everything alright, Twilight? It's not too tight, is it?" Rarity asked.

"No, it's fine. I'm just trying to adjust some parts so it's on right." Twilight stated from inside the room.

"I hope you like it, Twilight. Remember when I bought all those jewels at the Moon Festival last week? Well I used those jewels as a finishing touch to your gown, do you like it?" Rarity asked hoping she would.

"Yeah, I love it, Rarity. I can't wait to see how it looks on me." Twilight said from inside the room.

While everyone was waiting for Twilight, Rainbow Dash let out a bored groan as she lounged on Rarity's bug red couch. "No offence, Twilight. But the thing about getting married is that you have to be at the _altar_, not in a dressing room." She said.

Applejack looked at her with a firm look. "Rainbow, don't rush Twilight on her wedding day. She can take as long as she needs to." She stated.

"It's alright, Applejack. I think I've got it right now…should I come out?" Twilight asked.

An excited smile appeared on Rarity's face. "Oh yes, Twilight. Come out and show us all how you look." She said.

With that, Twilight stepped out of the dressing room and everyone gasped at the sight of her. "…H-How do I look?" Twilight asked nervously due to her friend's sudden gasp.

Everyone was silent, they stared at Twilight with their mouths hanging open. Twilight soon began to become worried before Rarity spoke. "Twilight…you look…you look…"

"Wonderful." Fluttershy finished as her stunned look turned into a smile of awe.

Twilight's worry faded after hearing that. "You really think so?" she asked.

"Twilight, you look more than wonderful, you look absolutely stunning. Here, look." Rarity said before her horn glowed, a large mirror then moved from across the room and stopped in front of Twilight.

Once she saw her reflection, Twilight's eye's widened slightly before a cheerful smile grew on her face. "...Rarity…this dress is beautiful." She said.

Rarity moved the mirror away before she smiled warmly at Twilight. "Thank you, I've spent weeks trying to perfect it for you. This is your wedding and you deserve to look your very best." She stated.

Twilight smiled warmly at her friend as tears began to form in her eyes, she was touched by Rarity's kindness before she walked up to her and hugged her. "I don't know how to thank you for this." She said.

Rarity smiled as she hugged her back. "You don't need to, you just go to that altar and enjoy your big day." she said kindly.

Twilight and Rarity then broke the hug before Twilight wiped her small tears away. "Ok…so, do you think Matt will like my dress?" she asked.

Rainbow Dash then walked up beside her. "Are you kidding? Once Matt sees you in that dress, I wouldn't be surprised if his entire jaw falls completely off." She said.

"Umm…charming thought, Rainbow Dash." Rarity said with a raised eye brow.

"I have to say, Twilight. Matt is one lucky guy, you look prettier than stars on a crystal-clear night." Applejack said kindly.

Twilight turned her head to face her. "Thanks, Applejack…but I have to admit, I feel kinda nervous about all this." She admitted.

"Oh, don't worry. I feel nervous all the time, but things always turn-out good in the end." Fluttershy said trying to make her feel better.

"Fluttershy is correct, there's nothing to be afraid of. In fact, my own mother once told me that she herself felt nervous on her wedding." Rarity stated.

Twilight turned her head to face her. "Really, what happened?" she asked curiously.

"Twilight, what do you think happened? Once she was with my father on the altar, everything turned-out well and now they live a happy life together, just like how you and Matthew will." Rarity said.

Twilight smiled sweetly at Rarity. "I know we will…I love Matt more than I've ever loved anyone…As long as we're together, we'll always be happy." she said.

"Aww, that's so romantic." Fluttershy said to her.

Just then, an idea came to Rarity which made her smile with joy. "Wait, we still have half-an-hour before the wedding starts. This gives me enough time to adjust you with some perfume." Rarity said before she hovered a bottle of perfume in front of Twilight.

She sprayed the perfume all over Twilight; causing her to cough from the perfume filled air. Once Rarity stopped spraying the bottle, Twilight waved one of her hooves to try and clear the air.

"Perfect, now you look _and_ smell divine. Is there anything else we need to add before we head over to the gazebo?" Rarity asked.

Once the air was clear enough, Twilight placed her hoof back down on the floor before she spoke. "No, thanks. I think I'm all ready to go, is there anything we can do to before the wedding starts?" she asked.

Everyone thought about it before Rarity spoke. "Well, I guess we could have a cup of tea. As long as you don't spill any on your dress." Rarity said.

"I'll try not to, but I know a cleaning spell I can use if I do end up making a mess. Anyway, a cup of tea could be just what I need to calm my nerves." Twilight said.

Rarity nodded before she turned her head around to face the others. "Do you girls want any?" She asked.

They all shook their heads. "Nah, we're good. Personally, I don't really like the stuff." Applejack stated.

"Soot yourself." Rarity said before she walked towards her kitchen with Twilight following behind; leaving the rest of the main 6 in the living room.

**Half-an-hour later: Ponyville gazebo **

The wedding was finally ready to begin. There were two rows of pews set up in front of the altar while beautiful flowers hung from the entrance of the gazebo.

Rainbow Dash managed to put in a good word with the other Pegasi and they've moved all the clouds away from Ponyville, so now it was a gorgeous sunny day with clear skies.

The altar was set up under the gazebo, so Twilight and I could be in the shade when Princess Celestia marries us.

I was standing under the gazebo on the right side of the altar, I shifted my front hooves nervously as I waited for the wedding to begin. As my best man, or in this case best _parrot_, Jeff stood beside me.

Spike was our ring-bearer, so he stood beside Jeff while holding a blue pillow in his hands. Two golden rings were lying on the pillow he was holding, one of them was the same ring I gave to Twilight when I proposed to her.

Seeing how I was a Pegasus, my ring wouldn't be able to go on anywhere. So my ring was attached to a chain that would go around my neck like a necklace.

All the while, Princess Celestia stood behind me. She had a calm look on her face as we waited for Twilight to arrive.

While we did, I couldn't help but look around at the pews to see all our guests.

On the right side, My family sat in the front row as they smiled at me. I looked closely at my sister, Jess, to see she was wearing the amulet that allowed them to come to this world.

To my surprise, they were sitting next to Twilight's family. Crescent, Star, and Shining Armor smiled at me as well.

I also noticed Twilight's pet owl, _Owlicious_, was standing in an empty space next to Shining Armor.

Twilight explained to me that she had lent Owlicious to Shining Armor before he left to do his duties in Crydo Village, Owlicious went with Shining Armor to help him. That explained why Owlicious wasn't here for all those months.

I looked around at the other guests to see Granny Smith and Big Macintosh, Rarity's parents, Zecora, Derpy, Spitfire and Soarin', Cheerilee, Mr and Mrs Cake, Fancypants and Fleur de Lis, and many other ponies I've met.

I also saw Luna, Discord, the Diamond Dogs, and Philomena sitting near the back.

Luna then noticed me looking at them, she gave me a small smile as she waved to me. I waved back to her before I continued to wait for Twilight.

Jeff looked up at me and saw my nervous face, he leaned his head over to whisper up to me. "You ok, dude? You look a little funny." He said.

I looked down to him. "I'm really nervous, Jeff. I mean, it's been almost an hour and Twilight isn't here yet." I whispered.

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Dude, you worry too much. Just relax, everything's gonna be fine." He stated. At that moment, the rest of the main 6 entered the ceremony and walked towards us.

"Look, here come the girls now." Jeff said pointing at them.

I looked to where he was pointing to see Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Fluttershy walking up to me. They were all wearing lovely dresses for the wedding, Rarity must've made them while she was making Twilight's dress.

Fluttershy was carrying a conductor's stick in her mouth, she must be planning to use it when her birds start sining.

Once they all reached the gazebo, they stood on the right so they wouldn't be in the way when Twilight comes down the aisle.

I looked over to them. "Is Twilight alright?" I asked in a whisper.

Rarity smiled at me. "Oh she's just fine, darling. She was a little nervous at first, but now she feels relaxed and ready to go." She stated.

I nodded to say I understood. "Ok." I said before I looked at Fluttershy. "Are you're birds ready to play the music, Fluttershy?" I asked.

Fluttershy placed her conducting stick on the ground before she nodded. "Yes, we've been practicing ever since I agreed to help with the music." She said with a smile.

I then smiled thankfully at all of them. "Hey…I just want to thank you for this, I know you've all worked really hard to put all of this together for us and I just want to let you know how thankful I am." I said kindly.

They all smiled warmly at me. "You're very welcome, Matthew." Rarity said.

"Yeah, don't sweat it." Rainbow Dash added.

"We just wanted you and Twilight to have the most perfect day ever." Pinkie Pie stated.

I just smiled warmly at them, I felt a lump in my throat as I thought about how much they've done for me and Twilight. I never had friends like this back in England, coming to Equestria has truly changed my life for the better.

Suddenly, I was broken from my train of thought when I noticed two peacocks standing at the end of the aisle, they each had their large tail-feathers spread wide out.

Fluttershy noticed them before she let out a small gasp. "Oh, it's time." She said to herself before she turned around to face a bird-stand with a row of different birds standing on it.

Fluttershy then picked her conducting stick up off the ground before she tapped the bird-stand with it.

As Fluttershy started to wave it up and down, the birds started to sing the tune "_Here comes the Bride_". Once the music started, everyone in the pews turned their heads around to face the other end of the aisle where the two peacocks stood.

I also looked at the two peacocks before they slowly closed their tail-feathers to reveal the most beautiful sight I've ever seen, Twilight in her wedding dress.

Her entire dress was purl white, the small robe she dragged from behind had a row sparkling yellow jewels going down the middle from her waist to the end of the robe. The golden fabric belt around her waist also had yellow jewels on it.

She wore a golden slipper on each hoof (almost like the ones that Princess Celestia wears). The chest area of her dress had a velvet jewel attached to it, the jewel had been cut into the shape of her cutie mark.

And finally, she had a see-through veil hanging at the back of her head with yellow flowers attached to it.

My jaw dropped at the sight of her, Applejack had to come over to me and push my jaw back up before she returned to where she was.

"…Whow…" I said under my breath in awe.

At that moment, Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle came up beside Twilight. They looked cute in their little dresses. They were each holding a basket of pink flower-petals in their mouths.

The girls started hopping down the aisle while leaving a trail of petals behind them, Twilight then began to walk down the aisle as the music kept playing.

As she did, everyone kept their eyes on Twilight as she came closer to the altar. My eyes were glued to her as I felt my heart pound against my chest.

Once they reached the altar, the girls stepped out of the aisle and sat on one of the front pews before they watched the rest of the wedding.

When Twilight finally reached the gazebo, she joined me on the altar before the music stopped. Twilight stood beside me as she smiled sweetly at me, I returned the smile. "Twilight…you look so beautiful." I said.

Twilight blushed. "Thanks, Matt…and you look really handsome." She said.

Just then, Princess Celestia lowered her head down to us. "Are you two ready to begin?" she asked with a smile.

We both then nodded to Celestia before she moved her head back up, Celestia looked out at the crowd before she spoke.

"Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered her today to celebrate the union of Twilight Sparkle and Matthew. They've proven that their love for each other is strong. Despite everything that's happened lately, they've never stopped letting their love bloom into what it is today." Princess Celestia said.

My mother started to tear up before she tried to find a tissue, Star noticed this before she reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a tissue. She held it to my Mother, she saw this and took it.

"Thank you." my Mother said before she wiped her tears away, they both then continued to watch the wedding.

As Twilight and I faced each other, Princess Celestia looked down at Twilight. "Twilight, do you take Matthew to be your beloved husband?" she asked.

Twilight smiled lovingly at me. "…I do..." she answered.

Celestia then turned her attention to me. "Matthew, do you take Twilight to be your beloved wife?" she asked.

I smiled lovingly back at Twilight as I looked deep into her beautiful purple eyes. "…I do…" I answered without taking my eyes off Twilight.

Over by Luna and Discord's pew, Fido burst out into emotional tears before Spot and Rover then looked up at him with awkwardness. Suddenly, Fido grabbed Spot and hugged him tightly.

As Fido continued to hug him, Spot let out an irritated groan.

"If there's anypony here who has a reason why these two should not be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." Celestia announced.

Twilight and I then looked at everyone in the pews while hoping no one would say anything. After a few seconds, no one objected. Twilight and I exhaled in relief before we turned our attention back to each other.

Celestia smiled before she looked down at Spike. "May we have the rings please?" she asked.

With that, Spike came up to us and held the pillow up to Celestia. Her horn glowed before Twilight's ring and my necklace lifted up off the pillow and floated towards us, Twilight's ring hovered over her head before it slid onto her horn.

The necklace hovered over my head before it placed itself around my neck, I looked down at the golden ring hanging from the chain before I looked back up to Twilight.

We both smiled at each other before Celestia continued to speak. "I here-by pronounce you…mare and colt, you may now kiss the bride." She said.

With that, Twilight and I leaned forward towards each other before we shared a powerful and loving kiss. And with that one kiss, we would spend the rest of our lives together.

Everyone in both pews cheered as they clapped their hooves together. Spike placed the pillow down on the ground before he, Jeff, and Peewee started clapping along with them.

The rest of the main 6 cheered as they stomped their hooves on the ground.

Twilight and I separated before we once again smiled at each other, we both then turned to face the pews to see everyone cheer for us.

I looked over to my family to see them clapping their hooves together while smiling proudly at me, Twilight looked at her family to see them doing the same.

As everyone continued to clap for us, both our tails reached over and wrapped around each other. Twilight and I both blushed as we continued to look out to all our friends and family.

**That night: Town Square **

It wasn't long before the day turned to night, Luna's wonderful stars filled the clear sky while the moon-light shun down on Ponyville.

After the ceremony, we all headed over to the Town Square to begin the reception party, hosted by none-other than Pinkie Pie.

Thanks to Applejack's cooking skills, she and her family filled the food-table with apple-pies, apple-fritters, caramel-apples, apple-dumplings, and other food that mostly involved apples.

A while ago, Pinkie Pie had told Mr and Mrs Cake about our wedding and they took this opportunity to make a fabulous wedding-cake for us. And they really put a lot of effort into making it, the cake was over four-layers tall.

I stood by the food-table while holding a glass of apple-juice with my hoof. I was watching Twilight dance on the dance-floor with her father, I once hear than brides would to do that on their wedding day.

All the while, I couldn't stop staring at Twilight, she looked so amazing in her wedding dress. As I continued to watch her, I couldn't help but think about how we came to be here.

We've been through a lot of things together, Twilight became my closet friend when first arrived in Equestria, we've been through the good and the bad as our relationship grew into something magical. And now here we were, at the reception party of our own wedding.

Twilight was my wife and now I can spend the rest of my life with her. As I thought about it, I couldn't help but shed a single tear of joy, I couldn't be happier. I wiped the tear away before I continued to watch Twilight on the dance-floor.

To show Twilight how much I loved her, I was planning to sing for her later tonight…and I knew exactly what to sing.

Due to different musical sounds, the song I chose couldn't be played by the band. So I asked _Vinyl Scratch_ if she'd help with audio sounds. She's kindly agreed to help and now everything was set

All I had to do now was wait until the right moment to go up onto the stage that was (once again) set up in front of the Town Hall.

Suddenly, I felt a hoof on my shoulder. I turned my head around to see my Dad with another proud smile on his face. "Hey, mate. How're you doing?" he asked.

I smiled back at him. "I'm great, Dad…in fact, I'm more that great, I feel like the happiest guy ever." I said.

My Dad chuckled. "Yeah, that's how I felt when I married your Mum….We're really happy for you, Matt…and we're proud of you." he said with a kind smile.

"Thanks, Dad." I said before we shared a nice hug, we then separated as Jess and my Mother came over to us.

Once they reached us, my Mother gave me a tight hug. "Oh, I can't believe my little boy is married." She said with joy before I hugged back.

Jess just looked at me with a smirk. "I still can't believe you got married before me, I'm the oldest you know." She joked.

Me and my Mother broke the hug and I looked at her. "Well, I guess I just got lucky." I said while smirking back.

Jess just smiled as she shook her head. "Cheeky beggar." She said.

Just then, we heard someone tapping on a microphone, we looked over to the stage to see Pinkie Pie in front of the microphone.

"Alright, everypony. Make room on the dance-floor for the bride and groom's first dance." Pinkie Pie announced.

With that, I turned my attention back to my family. "Excuse me for a minute." I said before I walked onto the dance-floor to join up with Twilight.

After I was gone, Discord appeared in a flash of light. He was wearing a waiter outfit while hold up a metal tray with his talon hand, the tray had cubed-fruit on it.

My family looked up at Discord before he brought the tray down to them. "May I interest any of you in cubed-fruit?" he asked with a grin.

My family just stared up at him with their mouths hanging open, they had never seen a creature like Discord before. Discord's grin faded. "What?...do I have a stain on my shirt?" he asked before he looked down at his white shirt for any stains.

Meanwhile, everyone cleared the dance-floor as I got closer to Twilight.

I saw Twilight and Crescent in the centre of the dance-floor, Crescent gave Twilight one last smile before he walked away from her; leaving me and Twilight as the only ponies on the dance-floor.

Once I reached Twilight, we both smiled at each other before I held my hoof out to her. Twilight gently placed her hoof on mine before we took a step closer to each other.

Vinyl Scratch then pressed a button on her stereo before waltzing music started to play, Twilight and I began to waltz to the music as we kept our eyes on each other.

Usually, I'd get embarrassed with all these eyes watching me dance. But I didn't notice them as I was too busy focusing on the beautiful pair of eyes in front of me, it was as if we were the only ones there.

Just then, Twilight placed her front hooves on my shoulders before she rested her head on the left side of my neck.

I smiled warmly at this before I wrapped my arms around her body, we both closed our eyes as we gently swayed left and right while holding each other.

"…I love you, Matt…" Twilight whispered.

"…I love you too, Twi." I whispered back as we continued to hold each other.

Everyone watched us with sweet smiles, my Dad wrapped his arm around my Mother and pulled her close to him.

Crescent did the same with Star as they watched Twilight dance with me.

As we continued to dance, I opened my eyes and looked over to Jeff and Peewee standing on the food-table, Spike was standing beside the table they were on. They all smiled before they waved at me.

I smiled as I waved back at them, I then closed my eyes again and continued to hold Twilight.

After a few more minutes, the music ended and we both separated, a part of us wanted to song to last a little longer just so we could hold each other again.

Once again, Pinkie Pie walked up on stage and got in front of the microphone. "Wow, that was a really touching dance. Let's hear it for Twilight and Mattie!" she said.

With that, everypony stomped their hooves on the ground as they cheered for us. Once they stopped, Pinkie Pie spoke again. "Alright, now guess what time it is…it's time to cut the cake, dibs on the first slice." She said in an excited tone.

Just then, Fluttershy came up on stage and whispered into Pinkie's ear. Once Pinkie heard what she said, she looked at Fluttershy with a raised eye brow. "Really?" she asked, Fluttershy nodded.

Pinkie Pie then spoke into the microphone again. "Urr, forget what I said before, apparently the bride gets the first slice of cake…dibs on the second slice then." She said.

Again, Fluttershy whispered into her ear and Pinkie Pie looked at her again. "Oh, c'mon. Are you serious?" she whispered loudly, Fluttershy nodded.

Pinkie Pie turned to the microphone again. "Ok, apparently the groom gets the second slice…" she said before she managed to form a small smile.

"Well, that's ok. I don't care which slice I get, just as long as I get one." Pinkie Pie said before she hopped off the stage with Fluttershy following.

We all then headed over to the food-table to cut the wedding cake.

**Half-an-hour later**

After cutting and eating the cake, Twilight and I were on dance-floor again with our friends. But instead of dancing, we were talking amongst each other.

Me, Twilight, and Spike were talking to Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. I was starting to get a bit nervous because it was nearly time for me to sing to Twilight.

Vinyl Scratch was ready with the music, and I secretly had Big Macintosh get a piano up on stage, everything was set.

"So, where are you two going for your honeymoon?" Fluttershy asked.

"We're gonna stay at the castle in Canterlot, Princess Celestia's letting us stay in one of her suites while we're there. I think it's the same suite Rarity and Matt shared a while back." Twilight said.

A large smirk then grew on Rainbow Dash's face as she looked at Fluttershy. "Yeah, we've seen that room, remember? It's at the top of a tower…a _high_ tower…In fact, I bet nopony could hear what they're doing all the way up there..." she said in a clear tone.

After a bit of thinking, Twilight and I understood what she meant and we both blushed deeply. "Well…umm…we're gonna…umm…" I said as I tried to think of something.

"Yeah, we're gonna…you know…umm." Twilight said as she did the same.

At that moment, Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash…umm…I think what Matt and Twilight do in their privacy is…umm…none of our business." She said.

Rainbow Dash kept smirking as she shrugged her shoulders. "Just asking, haha." She chuckled.

"Do you mind if we change the subject?" I asked hoping she would.

Rainbow Dash looked at me before rolling her eyes. "Fine…So what do you guys plan to do on your honeymoon?" she asked.

While Twilight answered her question, I decided that this would be the best time to preform to Twilight. I've already gone through the plan with Spike, I was gonna need his help.

I tapped Spike's shoulder before he looked up at me, I winked down at him to say it was time. Spike grinned and nodded to say he understood.

I then tapped Twilight's shoulder with my hoof before she looked at me. "Hey, is it alright if I go to the toilet? Spike needs to go too, so I'll take him with me." I said.

Twilight nodded. "Sure, go right ahead." She said.

With that, Spike and I walked away from her to get everything ready for my performance.

As Spike got up on stage, I walked around the stereos and whispered into Vinyl's ear. Once I Vinyl heard what I said, she looked at me and nodded.

With that done, I got up on stage to see Spike sitting in front of the piano on a stool. He turned his head around to face me before he stuck his thumb up; telling me that he was ready.

I nodded to him before I walked up to the microphone, I looked over to Vinyl and nodded to her. Vinyl nodded back before she pressed another button and the music stopped.

Everyone looked over to the stage to see why the music stopped, that's when they all noticed me on stage, including Twilight. "Matt? What's he doing up there?" she thought with confusion.

I then leaned my head towards the microphone before I spoke. "Ok, you're all probably wondering why the music stopped." I said.

"YES!" They all said at the same time.

This made me flinch a little before I continued. "Well, It's because I wanted to say something. I'd like to thank you all for coming, it's means a lot to me and Twilight. But that's not the only reason why I'm up here, I'm also up here because I want to do something special for the pony I love." I announced.

I then looked around until I finally found Twilight in the crowd, some of the ponies in front of her moved aside so I could see her better. "Twilight...this song is for you." I said with a sweet smile.

Once she heard that, Twilight gave me her full attention.

I turned my head around to face Spike before I nodded to him. He stuck his thumb up again before he turned around to face the piano, he then started to play it in a soft tune.

While he started to play, I looked over to Vinyl and nodded to her. She nodded back before she pressed another button on her stereos, they then started to play the music I asked for.

I waited until my part before I took a step closer to the microphone and started to sing for Twilight.

**Me: **"_From the moment I saw you…from the moment I looked into your eyes_

_There was something about you…I knew…I knew…_

_That you were once in a lifetime…a treasure near impossible to find_

_And I know how lucky…I am to have youuuu_

'_Cause I've seen rainbows that could take your breath away…_

_The beauty of the setting sun that ends a perfect day…_

_And when it comes to shooting-stars, I've seen a view…_

_But I've never seen…anythiiiing…_

…_As beautiful as youuuu…_

_Holding you in my arms…no one else has fit so perfectly_

_I could dance forever…with you…with you…_

_And at the stroke of midnight…please forgive me if I can't let go_

'_Cause I never dreamed I'd find a Cinderella of my ooooown_

_And I've seen rainbows that could take your breath away…_

_The beauty of the setting sun that ends a perfect day…_

_And when it comes to shooting-stars, I've seen a view…_

_But I've never seen…anythiiiing…_

…_As beautiful as youuuu…_

_La-da-da, da-da, da-daaaaa…_

_Oooooh, hooooo _

_I've seen rainbows that could take your breath away…_

_The beauty of the setting sun that ends a perfect day…_

_And when it comes to shooting-stars, I've seen a view…_

_But I've never seen…anythiiiing…ooooh_

_No, I've never seen…anythiiiiiing…_

…_As beautiful as youuuu…"_

I didn't take my eyes off Twilight as it came to the final verse.

"_From the moment I saw you…from the moment I looked into your eyyyyyes…" _

Once the song finished, everyone cheered loudly while stomping their hooves on the ground. Everyone except for Twilight, she just smiled lovingly at me with tears of happiness in her eyes.

I kept my eyes on Twilight as I stepped down from the stage and walked over to her. Once I reached her, Twilight took a step closer to me as she continued to smile.

"Matt…I can't tell you how much I love you right now." Twilight said sweetly.

I returned her sweet smile. "You don't have to, Twi." I said softly.

Twilight continued to smile at me before she leaped up and hugged me, I was surprised at first before I hugged her back.

"Awww." Everyone said, they all heart-filled looks on their faces as they watched us hug.

Celestia and Luna were also watching us, Celestia was cut off by the sound of a sniffing noise. She looked down to where the noise was coming from to see Luna with watery eyes.

However, Luna didn't look sad, she looked happy.

"Luna, are you alright?" Celestia asked with slight concern.

Luna looked up at Celestia before she wiped her tears away. "Oh, yes…it is just…I am just so happy for them, sister." She stated with a kind smile.

Celestia gave Luna a proud smile, she then wrapped her wing around Luna and pulled her closer to her. "So am I, little sister." She said.

The two sisters smiled warmly as they continued to watch me and Twilight hug lovingly.

**Later that night: Ponyville streets**

After a long night of partying, it was time for Twilight and I to leave the reception and begin our honeymoon.

Princess Celestia was had arranged at carriage to take us up to Canterlot, it wasn't long before it arrived in town.

The carriage was in the shape of a large sphere. It had a large diamond on top of it, the front and back wheels were set far apart from each other, and the side-doors where round.

There were four Canterlot guards harnessed to the front of the carriage, they were gonna pull it up to Canterlot.

Twilight and I had already packed our suitcases and they were now stored inside the carriage.

Once it was time to go, Twilight and I walked up to the carriage as everyone watched us leave.

As we got closer to the carriage, we noticed Celestia standing beside the side-door, her horn glowed opened before the door opened.

Once we reached the carriage, Celestia smiled at us. "I wish you both the best, have a wonderful time." she said kindly.

We smiled back at her. "We will." I said before we I climbed onto the carriage with Twilight, Celestia then closed the door behind us.

From the back window, we saw all our friends and family smiling and waving at us. "Have a nice time." Rarity called as she waved at us.

"Yeah. And don't worry about your job, Matt, Big Macintosh will fill in for ya while you're gone. Won't cha, Big Mac?" Applejack said as she looked at Big Mac standing beside her.

"Eeyup." He responded.

I smiled at them before I looked over to Spike, Jeff, and Peewee. "So, I guess this means we get the library to ourselves for a little while, huh?" Spike asked with a small grin on his face, Jeff and Peewee were also grinning.

I then smirked at them. "Nice try, But Shining Armor's gonna be looking after the library _and_ you guys while we're gone." I stated.

The grins on their faces soon disappeared after hearing this. "And there goes our party idea." Jeff said under his breath.

With that done, Twilight and I were about to sit down before Twilight let out a small gasp.

"On my gosh, I nearly forgot." Twilight said, her horn glowed and the bookey of flowers lifted up off the carriage seat.

Twilight floated it up to her before she grabbed it with her front hooves, she then looked back out at the crowd.

Without any warning, Twilight closed her eyes and tossed the bookey towards the crowd. A large group of girls gathered 'round and It looked as though our old friend, Junebug, was gonna catch it.

But before she could. "IT'S MINE!" Rarity yelled as she pushed her way through the group to catch the bookey.

As Rarity was about to catch it, Fluttershy swooped over her and caught it in her mouth.

A look of disappointment came on Rarity's face before Fluttershy floated down to her. Being as kind as she is, she held the bookey out for Rarity to take.

Rarity's disappointed look quickly turned into a thankful one, she took the bookey before she let out a cheerful squeal. "Thank you, Fluttershy." She said.

Fluttershy gave her a kind smile. "You're welcome, you wanted it more than I did." She said.

Twilight and I smiled at this before I turned my head to face her. "So, you ready to go?" I asked.

Twilight looked at me and nodded. "Ready when you are." She stated.

With that, I went up to the front window of the carriage. I poked my head out of it to speak to the guards. "Excuse me, we're ready to go." I said loud enough for them to hear.

One of the guards turned his head around to face me and nodded. "Very well, sir." He said before he turned his head back around.

The carriage then started to move as the guards began to walk.

As we began to pick up speed, I went back to re-join Twilight at the back window. We both looked out to the crowd again before we started waving goodbye to them, they all waved back as we moved further away from them.

As we got further away from Ponyville, we noticed a few ponies doing something near some kind of box. We wondered what they were doing before a number of fireworks shot up to the sky and exploded in different colours.

Twilight and I watched in awe as more and more fireworks exploded in the sky. Just then, something else shot up to the sky, but it wasn't a firework.

Twilight and I squinted our eyes to see it better, we then saw that it was Rainbow Dash shooting up to the sky with great speed.

Twilight and I continued to watch Rainbow Dash before, BOOM, she performed a Sonic Rainboom the same time as more fireworks blew up. This must have been what she was planning to do for the wedding.

While Rainbow Dash landed back down on the ground, Twilight and I continued to watch the fireworks as the rainbow sonic-wave spread across the night sky.

Once Ponyville was out of sight, Twilight and I sat down on the carriage seat as the guards began to pick up speed.

I then moved closer to Twilight and wrapped my arm around her. "Well…here we are." I said.

"Together forever." Twilight finished as she smiled sweetly at me.

I gave Twilight a small kiss on her fore-head before she rested her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes.

I held Twilight closely as the guards continued to pull our carriage up towards Canterlot.

**Later: Canterlot castle suite **

After arriving at the castle, a guard escorted us to the tower where our suite was. And Twilight was right, it was the same suite Rarity and I once shared a while back.

Once Twilight and I got settled in the suite, we both agreed that it was time for bed.

We both undressed from our wedding clothes and placed them into our suitcases.

Twilight and I both came out of the bathroom after brushing our teeth, Twilight let out a small yawn. "I don't know about you, but I'm so ready to go to bed." She said.

"Me too, Twi." I said.

Just then, I thought up an idea that made me grin. "You know what I forgot, Twi? I was supposed to carry you up here before we got settle. I guess it's too late now, but I can do something else." I said.

With that, I flapped my wings before I lifted off the ground. I then surprised Twilight by scooping her up in my arms, Twilight quickly wrapped her arms around my neck to keep herself from falling.

"Whow…Matt, what're you doing?" Twilight asked.

"Well seeing how I can't carry you up the stairs, I'll just have to carry you to bed." I said before I flew over to the bed.

Twilight's surprised looked soon turned into a calm one. Once we reached the bed, Twilight used her magic to move the covers before I gently laid her down on the bed.

I then landed beside Twilight before she pulled the covers over us, we both laid our heads on the pillows as we looked at each other.

"I still can't believe we're finally married." Twilight said as she smiled lovingly at me.

I smiled back. "Neither can I, Twi…this has been the happiest day of my life." I said sweetly.

"Mine too…especially now that we'll always be together…now and forever." Twilight said still smiling at me.

We both felt a lump in our throats as we continued to smile at each other, we moved our heads forward before we shared one last deep kiss.

After a few seconds, we broke the kiss before Twilight rested her head beside mine. "I love you so much, Matt." Twilight said as she closed her eyes.

I smiled warmly as I wrapped my arm around her. "…I love you too, Twi." I said before I closed my eyes as well.

After a few minutes, Twilight and I fell asleep in each other's embrace. Ending the best day of our lives, the day that would be the start of something new for Me and Twilight.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**The song I used is the "**_**Jim Brickman and Wayne Brady**_**" version of "**_**Beautiful as you**_**". I do not own anything.**

**Please tell me what you thought of the song. If you have the time, go check it out on YouTube, it's sounds better if you listen to it. **

**Here's what the video's called "**_**Jim Brickman feat. Wayne Brady – Beautiful**_**" again, I don't own anything.**

**There's a reason why Cadence didn't appear at the wedding. And before you suspect anything, No, she hasn't been kidnapped by Changelings…yet. To find out why she didn't appear, you'll have to wait until the next chapter, sorry.**

_**Pony News**_**: There is some news, but it's a massive spoiler so I can't tell you. If you want to know, you'll have to PM me and ask, but do so at your own risk.**

**In other news, **_**26 Episodes for Season 4 confirmed**_**. To find more news about it, look it up on Equestria Daily. If it's not on the first page, go on to the next one.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	42. Chapter 42: The honeymoon

**Hi, everypony.**

**As promised, I will now explain why Cadence didn't appear in the last chapter.**

**Remember in "**_**A Canterlot wedding Part 1**_**" where Shining Armor told Twilight that he was marrying Cadence? Well, Twilight sounded as though she hadn't seen Cadence since she was a filly.**

**And seeing how there's no proof of them seeing each other before the episode's events, that's what I'm going by.**

**So Cadence probably won't be seen until my**_** Canterlot Wedding**_** episode chapter, but I wouldn't get excited about it yet, it's a while away.**

**If I can come up with something, maybe Matt will meet Cadence early, but I can't promise anything.**

**So as always, please enjoy the chapter.**

Chapter 42: The honeymoon 

It's been 3 days since Twilight and I got married, and we've never been happier. Although, we haven't talked about having a _special night_ yet.

The day after our wedding, Princess Celestia came to our suite and said she had a surprise for us.

We followed her through the castle until we came to a pair of double doors, Celestia opened them to reveal a Pool-side were ponies come to when they're on vacation.

Twilight and I were amazed by it, there was a large pool, massage beds, a drink bar, and a kidy-pool for young fillies and colts.

Celestia said we could relax here anytime we wanted while we were on our honeymoon, we both gave her our dearest gratitude for this wonderful gift.

And that wasn't the only thing she had for us, Celestia had also assigned one of her best and toughest guards to aid and protect us while we were in Canterlot.

His name was _Blaze Horn_, he was a unicorn guard. But unlike most of Celestia's guards, his coat was light-brown and his mane & tail were black, he had silver cross-swords for a cutie mark.

Despite being determined to fulfil his assignment, he was more loose and cheerful than the other guards. He was a very kind pony, Twilight and I got along with him just fine.

**Canterlot Pool-side**

Today was a warm sunny day, so Twilight and I decided to spend it at the Pool-side.

Of course, we weren't wearing our wedding rings anymore, we packed them away with our wedding cloths for safe keeping.

Twilight was sunbathing on one of the wooden sun-chairs, she was a few feet away from the pool so she wouldn't get splashed or anything like that.

While she was relaxing, I was on top of the high diving-board walking as carefully as I could across it. Once I reached the end of the board, I looked down to see how high up I was from the pool.

"Oh boy, what've I got myself into this time?" I said under my breath.

"What's wrong, Mr Matthew? Afraid of heights? That's kinda weird, seeing is how you're a Pegasus and all." Blaze Horn called while standing near the edge of the pool.

I looked down at him. "I'm not scared, I've just never used one of these things before." I stated.

Blaze chuckled. "Well there's a first time for everything, sir." He called with an amused smile on his face.

"Yeah, whatever." I responded as I slowly took a few steps back.

Once I was far enough back, I waited a few seconds before I rushed across the board and bounced off the end. I hugged my knees to form a cannonball before I fell down into the water with a big splash.

After a few seconds, I shot my head out of the water and whipped the water off my eyes, I breathed heavily as I tried to catch my breath. "Well done, Mr Matthew. If I had number cards, I'd give you a…hmm…solid eight." Blaze stated.

I smirked at him. "An eight? Ok then, tough guy. Let's see you do better." I said as I swam over to him.

Blaze shook his head. "No thanks, sir. I'm not exactly the swimming type. Plus, I'm on duty helping you and your wife." He stated.

When I reached the side of the pool, I climbed out of the water and shook myself dry. Once I was dry, I looked at Blaze. "You know, you work too hard. Why not take a break? Sit down for a bit, me and Twilight can handle things." I said kindly.

Blaze smiled at me. "That's very generous, sir. But I'm under order to aid you and Twilight. And as a loyal guard, I must stick by my orders and follow them." he stated proudly.

"Whow, get a load of Captain America over here." I thought in amusement.

"Ok, do what you want, Blaze." I said.

As I thought about going back in the pool, I moved my tongue around my mouth to feel it was dry. I then looked over to the drink bar before I looked at Blaze again. "Hey, I'm kinda thirsty, wanna get a drink at the bar over there?" I asked as I pointed my hoof at the bar.

Blaze looked over to it before he smiled and looked at me again, he gave me a small nod. "Alright, sir. Let's have a drink, maybe we can learn a bit about each other." he said.

I smiled at this before we headed over to the drink bar. When we reached it, we sat on the spinning stools before the bar-tender came over to us. "What can I get you boys?" he asked.

"A glass of apple-juice, please." I said politely.

"Same here, please." Blaze said.

With that, the bar-tender walked away to make our drinks. After a few minutes, he came back and placed them in front of us.

I then realised I didn't have my money with me. I looked over to the chair Twilight was resting on and saw my saddle-bags, I then looked at the bar-tender. "Just a sec, I'll need to get the money from my bag." I said.

But before I could move from my seat, the bar-tender spoke. "It's ok, they're on the house." He said kindly.

I was slightly surprised by this. "Really?...oh, thanks." I said.

The bar-tender waved his hoof. "Don't mention it, kid. Any friend of Blaze Horn, is a friend of mine." He stated before he walked away to attend another customer.

Once he was gone, I turned my head to face Blaze with a raised eye brow. "Sounds like you've made a name for yourself, Blaze. How come you're so popular around here?" I asked curiously.

Blaze looked at me and shrugged. "I don't know, maybe it's because I'm good friends with the Captain of the Guards or something." he said.

"You know Shining Armor?" I asked in surprise.

Blaze smirked. "You mean Shiny? Yeah, I know him. He and I go way back, we trained together with Midnight Gaze before we became guards."

Once I heard that name, my curious smile faded away. "…Oh…you knew Midnight?...Did you hear about what happened to him?" I asked.

Blaze nodded. "Trust me, Matt. Every guard in the castle knows about what happened to him, we all attended his funeral at Princess Luna's castle." He said before his ears dropped.

"It was hard for me and Shining Armor, we were friends with Midnight for many years. To most of the guards, we lost a dear friend that night…but to me, I lost a family member." Blaze stated sadly.

After hearing this, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "…I'm sorry for your loss, Blaze…By the way, where were you during Thorn's attack on the castle?" I asked.

"Before Thorn could take over the castle, he had to get to the throne room first. I was one of the first guards he knocked-out on the way there, I woke up some time later in the Canterlot Hospital. When I returned to the castle, I asked one of the other guards what happened after I was knocked out." Blaze explained.

"And what did he say?" I asked curiously.

A smirk then grew on Blaze's face. "He told me Thorn was stopped by a little green pony with a habit for annoying bad guys." He stated.

I chuckled at this. "And now you're having a drink with that little green pony." I said.

Blaze chuckled as well. "Haha, yeah." He said before his amused smile turned into a small frown. "I still wish I could've done something during the attack, I would've tried to help-out." He stated.

I then placed my hoof on his shoulder. "Hey, Thorn was a tough guy. You were lucky to get out of there, you're even lucky to be alive." I said.

Blaze nodded in agreement. "I know I am…I just wish I could've helped." He said before he managed to form a smile. "Anyway, the past is the past. It's time to move on to the future, like your future with Twilight." he said in a more cheerful tone.

At that moment, look over to Twilight who was still relaxing on the sun-chair before I turn my attention back to Blaze.

"I know…I still can't believe I'm married. Think about all the things we can do in our future together, where would we start?" I asked, I was still in slight amazement over the fact that I was married.

"Here's something, ever thought about having kids?" Blaze asked with a raised eye brow.

After hearing this, my eyes widened slightly. "Err...well, we almost had a..._special night_…but we decided to wait until we were married." I said.

"Well you're married now, so what do you do next?" Blaze asked before he grabbed his drink with his hoof and took a small sip of it.

I turned around to look over to Twilight again, I just stared at her as I thought it over. "Well…we _did_ say we'd do it after we were married." I admitted in a quiet tone.

Blaze placed his drink back down. "And married couples usually do it on their honeymoons, so this maybe the best time to do it." he stated.

I continued to stare at Twilight as I thought about what he said, it would be good to do it while we were away from home. Our room was private, everyone knocks before entering, and I felt ready for it. "Well…I guess we could try, I'd have to ask her first." I said.

"Well, why not go over there and ask her now?" Blaze asked.

And within a few seconds, I felt confidence flow through my body. I turned my head back around to face Blaze. "You know what? That's exactly what I'm gonna do." I said.

I then grabbed my glass of apple-juice and drank the whole thing in a few gulps. When the glass was empty, I slammed the glass down and took some deep breaths. "Alright, I'm going over there."

With that, I jumped down from the stool and made my way towards Twilight. "Good luck." Blaze called before he took another sip of his drink.

As I got closer to Twilight, I saw that her chair was lying flat so she was looking up at the sky. She lied there with sun-glasses over her eyes and a warm smile on her face, I could tell she was enjoying her sunbathe.

Once I reached her, I walked around her chair until I was behind her head. I then leaned my head forward until my face was above hers; causing my shadow to block the sun from her face.

After a few seconds, her smile faded. "Excuse me, you're kinda blocking my light." She said before he horn glowed and her sunglasses tilted up to her fore-head.

Twilight then opened her eyes to see me smiling warmly down at her, her smile then returned. "Oh, hey Matt. What're you doing?" she asked.

I continued to smile down at her. "Oh you know, enjoying the view." I said.

Twilight giggled at my comment. "Well, maybe you'll enjoy _this_ even more." She said as she placed both her front hooves on my cheeks.

Twilight then pulled my face down and we shared a deep kiss, it felt a little strange kissing her upside-down, but I didn't care.

We then separated before Twilight removed her hooves from my face, we smiled lovingly at each other before I moved around to the left side of her chair.

Twilight watched as I got onto chair with her and laid down on my back beside her, I wrapped my arm around her as we looked into each other's eyes. "Isn't this peaceful, Matt? Just you and me spending personal time together on this gorgeous day?" she said.

"Yeah." I answered.

Twilight then nudged closer to me and nuzzled her head against the side of my neck. Once she got comfy, she closed her eyes to enjoy the moment.

As I continued to hold her, I thought about what I was going to say to her. "I know she wants to do it, but how do I tell her? Ok, just say you're ready, and don't be too strong about it. It's easy, you can tell her you're ready to take the next step." I thought.

I took a quiet deep breath before I spoke. "…Twilight…" I said.

"Yeah?" Twilight responded as she kept her eyes close.

"I…I want to tell you something…I…I'm ready…" I said.

Twilight opened her eyes before she moved her head away from my neck and looked at my face. "Ready? Ready for what?" she asked curiously.

I was slightly surprised that she didn't remember. "You know…I'm ready to do it…what we said we'd do after we were married." I said.

At that moment, Twilight knew what I was talking about and blushed deeply. "Oh…y-you mean…you're ready?" she asked.

I remained silent as I nodded. "So…when do you want to do it?...Tonight?" Twilight asked.

I gave it some more thought before I nodded again. "I want to do it with you, Twi...I think this honeymoon is the best time to do it. No distractions, no interferences, just you and me on our bed." I said softly.

A small smile grew on Twilight's face before a thought came to her. "But what about Blaze? He'll be standing right outside the door of our suite." She said.

I gave her a comforting smile. "We'll send him away, we'll tell him we want some time alone, he'll understand." I said.

Twilight blushed again as she continued to smile at me. "Ok, Matt…we'll do it tonight..." She said before she wrapped her arms around me and held me tight.

I closed my eyes as I kept holding her, we felt relaxed as we continued to lie there in each other's embrace. We felt the heat from the bright sun warm our faces as we thought about what tonight would be like.

**That night: Our suite**

That night, we returned to our suite to begin our special night.

Just like said, we explained everything to Blaze and asked if we could have some privacy. Blaze understood and kindly went away, he said he had other business he needed to take care of anyway.

After he left, Twilight hung a sign outside on the front door. It read '_Do not disturb_', somehow I can tell she's been planning this night for a while.

While Twilight was getting comfy on the bed, I was in the bathroom swilling my face with water as I thought of what I was about to do.

I leaned over against the sink with my head hanging above it, I felt the water drip from my face as I took steady breaths. After a few more breaths, I looked up at my reflection in the mirror. "Alright Matt…you can do this…she's your wife now, it's ok to do it with her." I said to myself.

As I tried to build confidence, an unsure feeling caused me to frown slightly. "But what if something bad happens? What if I hurt her somehow?" I said before I felt my confidence return.

"NO! You're doing it with her tonight, you promised her." I said strongly at my reflection.

"Matt, are you ok in there?" Twilight called from the bedroom.

I turned around to look at the open bathroom door. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be in there in a minute." I called before I turned around to face the mirror again.

"Well…here I go…" I said before I stepped down from the sink and headed over to the door.

Once I entered the bedroom, I saw Twilight lying in the bed with her chin resting on her left hoof. She fluttered her eyes as she smiled slyly at me. "Coming to bed, sweetie?" she asked.

I blushed deeply as I stared at her beauty, I made my way towards the bed while smirking at her. "Well, I've never seen _this_ side of you before…but I think I like it." I said.

Twilight giggled. "I think you'll like it even more once we get started." She said slyly.

I was surprised by her sudden flirty attitude, I never thought I'd see someone like Twilight act like this…But who ever said I had a problem with it?

Once I reached the bed, Twilight's horn glowed before the covers on my side of the bed moved aside to let me in. I lied down on the bed with her before she moved the covers over me.

I continued to smile as I rolled on top of Twilight and she placed her hooves on my shoulders. "Alright, you naughty pony. Are you sure you're ready for this?" I asked.

Twilight smiled back as she nodded slightly. "More than you know." She stated.

We smiled lovingly at each other before I lowered my head down to her face, we both soon connected in a passionate kiss. Twilight's hooves moved from my shoulders to the back of my neck as we continued to kiss.

After a few seconds, we began to move faster. We both soon felt the irresistible urge trying to take over, but this time we weren't going to hold back.

The feeling was overpowering, I felt my wings desperately try to unfold while I was doing my best to keep them down.

We separated from the kiss to breathe. Once I caught my breath, I began to softy kiss Twilight's cheek; earning a small giggle from her.

But suddenly. *Knock, knock, knock!* someone knocked at the front door.

Twilight and I quickly looked over to the door to hear another knock, I then looked down at Twilight with confusion. "I thought you put a sign on the door." I said.

Twilight looked at me. "I _did_ put a sign on the door." She claimed.

This made me even more confused, I looked over to the door again with an unpleased look. "Well who the hell's dumb enough to knock on a door with a '_do not disturb_' sign on it?!" I asked in an irritated tone.

At that moment, the door opened to reveal Rover. "Room-service." He said with a large smile.

Once I saw him, I lowered my eye-lids half-way. "Now I feel dumb for asking." I groaned out-loud.

Rover stepped aside to allow Spot to push a food-cart through the doorway. The cart had two metal dome cloches on it, obviously they were covering our food.

"Guys, did you even notice the sign on the door?" I asked still feeling irritated.

Rover and Spot looked at the sign on the door before they looked at me. "Yes." They both answered.

"Well can you read?" I asked growing more annoyed.

They both looked at the sign again before they looked at me. "No." they both answer.

I couldn't help but face-hoof myself while letting out a groan. "Grr…ok, just…put the food over there." I said while pointing to the table on the other side of the room.

With that, Spot pushed the food-cart over to the table. When he reached it, he then removed the cloches to reveal two plates of steaming salads.

"Fresh cooked food for the new pony couple." Spot said as he placed the plates on the table.

Twilight and I could smell the food from the bed, it was giving off a wonderful sent that tempted us to eat it.

With that done, Spot turned around and pushed food-cart back towards the door. After he left the room, Rover looked at us with a raised eye brow. "Err…why are you two in bed?" he asked curiously.

Twilight and I didn't answer, we just gave him an annoyed glare before Twilight's horn glowed. Suddenly, the door slammed shut in Rover's face; locking him and others out.

Once that was done with, Twilight and I let out a small exhale. We then looked over to the food before we both slipped out of the bed and walked towards it.

Once we reached the table, we looked down at the food-filled plates in wonder. "Matt, why did you order room-service on our special night?" Twilight asked as she kept staring at the food.

I turned my head to face her. "Whow, hold up, I didn't order anything." I stated.

Twilight then looked at me. "Well, I didn't do it. And it didn't just order itself, so who did order it?" She asked.

I then looked down at the plates again before I noticed a small note lying on one of the plates beside the food. "Hey, there's a note." I said as I pointed at it.

Twilight looked down at it before her horn glowed, the note then lifted off the plate and hovered in front of her as she began to read it.

"_Dear Twilight and Matthew._

_I ordered this special surprise dinner for you both. Don't worry about paying, it is free in your honour. Just make sure you have a wonderful honeymoon._

_Yours: Princess Celestia_."

After Twilight finished reading the note, she looked at me again. "So the Princess ordered this for us? Why?" she asked in wonder.

"Looks like Blaze isn't the only one trying to make our honeymoon perfect." I said.

Twilight then placed the note back down on the table before she looked at the food again. "We're not gonna do it tonight, are we?" she asked with a disappointed look on her face.

I could tell she was upset by this, so I got closer to her and wrapped my wing around her. "Hey, it's ok. We still have a few days before we go back to Ponyville, there's plenty of time." I said softly.

Twilight then turned her head to face me. "So what should we do tonight?" she asked.

I gave it some thought before spoke. "Well we can't just leave this food to go cold, especially after the Princess ordered it for us. Plus, I am kinda hungry…and it does smell good. How about we eat this tonight and try again some other night?" I said.

Twilight was silent for a moment before she nodded slightly. "Ok, Matt…Rover and Spot kinda ruined the mood anyway." She said.

I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was still disappointed, I placed my hoof under her chin and gave her a warm smile. "Don't worry, Twi. We will do it eventually, we just need to find the right time to do it." I said.

Twilight then managed to form a smile. "Ok, Matt. Well…we should probably start eating this food, we don't want it to get cold." She said.

With that, we both sat down by the table before we started to eat our salads. However, we were still disappointed that our special time was ruined just as it was getting good.

**The next day: Castle Gardens**

While Twilight was getting a back massage by the pool, I decided to take a peaceful walk through the castle gardens.

Blaze Horn accompanied me and he was curious about what happened last night.

"I told you, Blaze. Nothing happened last night, we just ended up having room-service." I stated trying to end the conversation.

"Oh, I get it. You blew it." he said.

I immediately stopped and turned around to face him. "I did _not_ blow it. We almost had a special night, but those Diamond Dogs interrupted us before we could even get best part." I explained.

"Bummer…better luck next time, huh?" Blaze said with a slightly amused smile.

I didn't take notice to his smile and let out a small sigh.

"Yeah, we'll try again some other night. And when that night comes…we're locking the door." I said before I turned around and continued to walk through the garden with Blaze behind me.

As we kept walking through the lovely surroundings, we soon entered another part of the garden that had bushes cut into the shape of different animals.

Blaze and I looked around to admire them. There was one in the shape of whale, one in the shape of an elephant, one in the shape of a giraffe, and many more.

Just then, I saw someone up ahead. I got closer to see it was Discord behind a rose bush, he looked as though he was hiding.

I wondered what he was doing before I turned my head around to face Blaze. "Hey, how about you go check on Twilight? I just need to check something out. Plus, she's been alone for a while."

Blaze smiled as he saluted to me. "Sure thing, buddy." he said before he turned around and headed back to the pool-side.

Once he was out of sight, I turned my attention back on Discord before I started to walk over to him.

When I reached him, I watched as he looked at something on the other side of the bush. Obviously he didn't want to be seen. "Hey Discord, what're you doing?" I asked.

Discord then quickly looked down at me. "Oh, hello Matthew…I'm…I'm doing nothing." He stated while shifting his eyes left and right.

I raised my eye brow at him. "Nothing, huh? What do you keep looking at over the bush?" I asked.

Discord began to sweat slightly. "Err…also nothing." He stated.

I still didn't believe him, he had a nervous look in his eye that told me he didn't want anyone to know what he was doing. "Oh, so you were looking at nothing?" I said.

Discord smiled and nodded.

"Ok, then there shouldn't be anything beyond this bush. Mind if I have a look?" I asked with a devious smirk on my face.

Discord's smile went away as his eyes widened slightly. "Well…emm…you see…I…" he said trying to come up with an excuse.

I just rolled my eyes before I looked over the bush. That's when I saw Celestia on the other side of the gardens with a watering-can floating beside her, she was using her magic to water the flowers while humming a calming tune.

I then looked at Discord again to see him twiddle his fingers while smiling nervously down at me. "I don't get it, it's just Celestia." I said.

"Yes…I know." He responded.

I was really confused by this, why was Discord spying on Celestia? Discord's usually really calm around her. At that moment, it hit me.

I looked back and forth from Discord to Celestia a few times as a smile grew on my face. "Hey…are you checking her out?" I asked.

Discord then let out an amused chuckle. "Haha, checking her out? Haha. Oh Matt, you make me laugh when you're talking nonsense." He said as he patted my head with his lion hand.

"No seriously, I wouldn't mind if you were. I mean…she's very beautiful." I said in an honest voice.

Just then, Discord's amused faded away before he looked at Celestia again. "Well…I suppose she's quite lovely…" he said.

I was curious to why he was acting so shy and defensive, he's usually more lively than this. "Discord, I'm starting to get the feeling that you like Celestia. And not as a friend, I mean as something else." I said.

Discord then looked down at me again and his ears dropped. "Well seeing how the cat's out of the bag…I…I guess I do have curtain feelings for her." He admitted.

"Well, have you ever thought about asking her out?" I asked curiously.

Discord raised his eye brow. "You mean have I ever considered dating her? I have dated her, we went to witness the Canterlot bonfire together. You were there with Twilight, remember?" he said with his arms crossed.

I nodded. "Yeah, I remember. But I'm not talking about going to a bonfire, I'm talking about an _real_ date. You know, take her out to dinner or something like that." I said.

"It's not that easy, Matt. You may think I have a chance with her, but why would she ever have a relationship with me? I mean, just look at me!" Discord said as he looked down at his body.

I gave him a confident smile. "Don't be-little yourself like that, Discord. I've seen enough to know Celestia likes you too, you just need to make the next move." I said.

Discord then rubbed his chin with his talon hand. "I see…well then, I should probably make that move now, shouldn't I?" he said.

I nodded. "Yep." I responded.

Discord looked over to Celestia again before a nervous look came on his face, he then looked back down at me. "But…I've never been on an actual date before…can you come with us and help me?" he asked sounding desperate.

"Discord, I can't come on your date with Celestia, that would just be weird." I stated.

Discord then wrapped his hands together. "Please, please, pleeeease." He begged.

After hearing him beg a few more times, I decided to try and think of a way to help him before I came up with something. "Well…maybe Twilight and I could double-date with you and Celestia." I said.

Discord gave me a confused look. "Double-date? What's that?" he asked.

"It when two couples go on a date together, Twilight and I will be able to join you and Celestia on your date." I explained.

"…I guess that could be suitable." Discord said before a look of confidence came on his face. "Alright, I'll do it. I'll go over there and ask her out on a date." He said.

I then gave him a proud smile. "Good on ya, Discord. Don't worry, I'll be here the whole time." I said before I sat down on the ground.

Discord's confident look didn't last long as looked over to Celestia again, he gulped hard as he felt nervous again. "Alright, here I go." He thought.

With that, Discord took a deep breath before he walked around the bush and made his way towards Celestia. As he got half-way, he stopped and turned his head around to face me.

I could tell he was having second thoughts, so I moved my hoof in a way that told him to keep going.

Discord then mouthed the words '_I'm going_' before he turned his head back around and continued to walk towards Celestia.

Finally, Discord approached Celestia from behind while she continued to water her plants. Discord listened to her humming melody, her smoothing tune somehow made Discord feel calmer.

Discord listen to her for a few more seconds before he held his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat, Celestia heard this and turned her head around to see Discord.

Celestia smiled at him before she turned the rest of her body around to him. "Why hello Discord, how long have you been standing there?" she asked curiously.

Discord rubbed the back of his head with his lion hand. "Well, I haven't been here long…I was actually wanting to ask you something." he stated nervously.

Celestia then placed her watering-can down on the ground. "What is it?" she asked giving him her full attention.

Discord was a loss for words, he turned his head around to face me again. I saw this and motioned my hoof again to tell him to keep it up

Discord then turned his head back around to face Celestia again, he began to sweat slightly as he tried to spit it out. "Well…I was…urr…wondering if you'd like to go somewhere with me tomorrow night. You know, a place where we can have an evening together." He said.

After hearing this, Celestia cocked her head in confusion. "Discord, are you asking me out on a date?" she asked.

Discord slowly nodded. "Umm…yes…" he answered with a sheepish smile.

Celestia looked at the ground as she thought about it, Discord became more worried every silent second. Discord was sure she was going to refuse…until. "I'd love to, Discord." Celestia answered with a kind smile.

At that moment, Discord's worried feelings went away and a cheerful smile came on his face. "Really?" he asked.

Celestia nodded. "Yes, I need some time out of the castle anyway. And also…I've grown rather fond of spending time with you, Discord." She said with a sweet smile.

Discord smiled sweetly beck. "Oh…thank you, Princess. By the way, do you mind if Matthew and Twilight joined us on our date? Matthew said it was something called…a double-date." He said.

Celestia shook her head. "Oh, I wouldn't mind at all. I've been meaning to speak with those two, I'm curious on how their honeymoon is going." She stated.

Discord was pleased on how well this had gone, he gave Celestia a small nod. "Ok then…So how about we go to that fancy restaurant in the city tomorrow night?" he asked.

"That sounds like a good idea." Celestia said before she picked up her watering-can with her magic.

"Anyway, I need to get back to watering my plants. I'll meet with you later, Discord. I'm really looking forward to our date tomorrow." Celestia said kindly.

"As am I, Princess." Discord said before Celestia walked away from him to water a different bush.

When Discord started walking back towards me, an overjoyed smile came on his face, he couldn't help but chuckle cheerfully. "Yes." He cheered under his breath.

As he came closer to the bush, I could see the smile on his face that told me he had done it. Once he reached me, I smiled up at him. "So, what happened?" I asked curiously.

"She said yes, we're going out of dinner tomorrow night." Discord said in delight.

"Did you mention it was a double-date?" I asked.

Discord nodded. "Yes, and she doesn't mind if you and Twilight come, she said she wanted to speak with you two anyway." He stated.

At that moment, I gave Discord a proud smile. "Well I'm happy for you, Discord. Looks like you and Celestia have more of a chance than you think." I said.

Discord smiled humbly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well…maybe…but no one should get their hopes up just yet, we still need to see how this date turns out." He stated.

"Yeah" I said.

suddenly, I remembered that I supposed to be back at the pool-side by now, Twilight and Blaze must still be waiting for me. "Oh crap! Discord, I have to go. I was supposed to be back with Twilight ages ago." I said.

Discord raised his talon hand up. "Don't fret, I'll get you back in a snap…literally." He said.

But before he could snap his talon fingers, we heard a loud dark caw. We looked in the direction it came from to see a large black crow standing on a tree branch.

"Wow…I've never seen a lot of birds in my years, but never one that creepy, it looks like it's…glaring at us." Discord said as we stared at the crow.

As it glared at us with its menacing red eyes, I looked at it closer to see it had a large ugly scratch on its beak. That's when I remembered the crow from Fluttershy's garden that attacked me and Spike.

"No…it can't be." I thought.

Suddenly, the crow spread out its wings before it launched down at me. My eyes widened in surprise. But before I could react, the crow shot past my face and slashed my left cheek with its talons.

"AHH! Ahh…damn it!" I yelled in pain as I held my hoof against my cheek.

As I held my cheek in pain, the crow flew towards another tree and landed on another branch before it continued to watch me.

My yells caught the attention of Princess Celestia, she turned around to see what the commotion was and saw me in pain. She quickly placed her watering-can down before she rushed over to me and Discord.

Once she reached me and Discord, she looked down at me with concern. "Matthew, are you alright? What's wrong?" she asked.

I looked up at her while still holding my hoof against my face. "Ah...a damn crow just attacked me, it scratched my face!" I said loudly.

"May I see your wound?" Celestia asked calmly.

With that, I gently removed my hoof from my face.

Celestia looked at my wound to see three long scratches going across my cheek, she let out a small gasp. "Oh my…this is quite bad for a crow to make, are you sure it was a crow?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, positive." I said before I looked around to try and find it. After a few seconds, I saw the crow up on another tree branch. "There it is!" I said while pointing at it.

While Discord and Celestia looked up at it, I picked up a rock with my hoof. "Get out of here, you ugly feathered rat!" I yelled before I threw the rock towards it.

The rock hurled towards it before it hit the tree-trunk, the crow cawed loudly at me before I took off and flew away into the sky.

After it was gone, I held my hoof against my cheek again before I removed it. I looked down at my hoof's palm to see a small amount of blood on it, this meant my wound was starting to bleed.

"Fucking pigeon." I said under my breath in anger. Again, I don't usually swear like that, but it really hurt.

After I calmed down, I looked up at Celestia and Discord. "Hey guys, I'm just gonna get back to Twilight before anything else happens, alright?" I said in a calm yet exhausted tone.

Celestia gave me an understanding look. "Of course, Matthew. Go and relax for a while. And if that cheek's bothering you, there should be a medical kit in your suite." She said.

I gave her a thankful smile. "Thanks, Princess. I'm looking forward to the double-date tomorrow, I'll be sure to tell Twilight about it." I said.

As I began to walk away, I felt the scratches on my cheek sting again; forcing me to stop and place my hoof on the wound.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Discord asked in concern.

I turned my head around to face him. "Yeah, I'll be ok. I just need to get to that medical kit, I'll see you tomorrow." I said.

With that, I turned my head back around before I looked at my hoof again. I saw even blood this time, I could tell by the amount of blood that the wound was starting to bleed more.

I rubbed my hoof on the ground to wipe the blood off. Once the blood was off my hoof, I continued down the path to the pool-side.

On the way, I was still thinking about the crow that attacked me. There was no denying it now, that was definitely the same crow from Fluttershy's garden. But what was it doing here? And why does it always come after me when it appears?

I started to wonder if it was stalking me, like it was out to get me. I then realized how silly that sounded and shook the thoughts off. "What do crows have against me anyway?" I groaned under my breath as I tried to forget about it.

However, the stinging pain on my cheek kept reminding me of it. But all the while, I wondered how Twilight would react once she saw my wound.

**That night: The suite**

When we returned to the suite, Twilight immediately searched around for the medical kit. She was really shocked when she saw my cheek.

After finding the medical kit in one of the kitchen drawers, Twilight was now sat in front of me as she tended to my wound. She soaked a cotton-bud in disinfectant and was dabbing my cheek with it.

I sat on the edge of the bed as I felt the disinfectant sting the scratches on my cheek. "Ow…ow…ow." I repeated every time she dabbed my cheek.

"Matt, stop whining like a school-colt." Twilight said as she continued to dab my cheek.

"I can't help it, it stings. Ow!" I yelped as she dabbed my cheek again.

After a few more stinging dabs, Twilight stopped dabbing and threw the wet bloody cotton-bud in a bin beside the bed.

Twilight then levitated three band-aids out of the kit before she stuck them onto my cheek, the band-aids each covered one of the three scratches on my face. "All done, better?" Twilight asked.

At that moment, I thought of an idea that made me grin. "Kinda, it still hurts a little bit." I said slyly while tapping my cheek.

Twilight was confused at first before she understood what I meant, she smiled before she gave me a sweet kiss on my wounded cheek. "How about now?" she asked.

"Much better." I said smiling warmly at her.

Twilight smiled back before she spoke. "So how'd that happen anyway? Did you say it was a crow?" she asked curiously.

I nodded. "Yeah, Discord and I saw it up on a tree branch before it shot down and scratched me across my face. I think it was the same crow from Fluttershy's garden…I'm sure it was." I stated.

"You mean the one that scratched your arm?" Twilight asked with a raised eye brow.

I nodded again. "Yeah, it had a large scratch on its beak just like the one at Fluttershy's place." I said.

"Well if it is the same bird, it's gone now. Let's just try to forget about it, ok?" Twilight said as she placed her hoof on my shoulder.

I then gave her one last nod. "Ok, Twi." I said.

Just then, I remembered about the double-date we had with Celestia and Discord. "Oh Twilight, I almost forgot. How do you feel about going on a double-date with Discord and Celestia?" I asked hoping she'd be alright with it.

Twilight gave me a confused look. "Double-date with Discord and Celestia? What're you talking about?" she asked.

"Before the whole crow thing happened, I was helping Discord ask Celestia out on a date. He asked her and she said yes, but Discord is kinda nervous and he'll feel much better if we go with them on the date." I explained.

Twilight gave me an unsure look. "I don't know, Matt." she said.

"Aw c'mon, Twi. We'll be on a date too, only Celestia and Discord will be with us on theirs. We're going to one of the fancy restaurants in the city, and the Princess wants to talk to us anyway…How about it, Twi?" I asked with a hopeful smile.

Twilight tapped her chin as she thought about it. "Well…we haven't had a romantic dinner while we've been here, I guess it could be good." she said with a small smile.

"So we're on?" I asked.

Twilight kept smiling as she let out a small sigh. "Ok, we're on. But only because we haven't been on a dinner date yet. Plus, we're talking about the Princess here, we don't want her date to go bad." She stated.

I smiled at this news. "Great, the date's tomorrow night." I said.

"In that case, we'd better get a good night sleep, we need to be up early enough." Twilight said before she stood up and walked towards the bathroom. "Come on, let's get ready for bed." She said.

I was slightly confused by this. "But…the date's tomorrow _night_, how come we need to get up early?" I asked.

As she kept walking, Twilight turned her head around to face me. "I find it best to over-prepare for things like this." She stated before she entered the bathroom.

I smiled with amusement as I shook my head. "That's my twilight, always being prepared for anything." I thought.

"Honey, have you seen my toothbrush?" Twilight called from the bathroom.

"Well…almost anything." I thought before I hopped off the bed and walked into the bathroom to help Twilight.

After hearing Twilight say we needed to sleep early tonight, I was disappointed a little. I was hoping we could try to have a special night again…Oh well, better luck tomorrow night.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Well friends, season 3 is over. I know some of you may not like the idea of Twilight as a Princess, but this is one of those moments were we need to remember that Bronies and Pegasisters stick together and pull through no matter what.**

**I have no problem with Princess Twilight, I'm looking forward to see how this works in Season 4, I just hope you feel the same way.**

_**Pony News**_**: Season 4 sounds like it could be better than season 3. **_**Meghan McCarthy**_** considers the Season 3 final **_**a 3-parter**_**, and she says parts 2 & 3 (most likely the season 4 premiere) will be worth the wait.**

**And **_**Daniel Ingram**_** says there's something big in store for us, here's what he said in his Twitter.**

"_**For those planning on leaving the fandom after season 3…I've seen into the future, and you do NOT want to miss out on what's in store.**_**"**

_**Poll**_**: I'm curious on what you thought of season 3, so I've put up a poll to find out. You'll find it on my profile, here are the votes.**

**1: **_**I loved it.**_

**2: **_**I liked it but could've been better.**_

**3: **_**I hated it.**_

**Please remember to review and vote.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	43. Chapter 43: The double date

**Hi everypony, and welcome back once again. So sorry for the wait, I've been a bit out of it lately. **

**The votes on how people felt about Season 3 are in. 9 people loved it, 11 people think it could've been better, and 0 people hated it.**

**I'm happy to hear that most of you loved Season 3. And again, don't worry about the Alicorn Twilight thing, let's just give it a chance and see where it takes us in Season 4.**

**I had to change some of the lyrics in the song I used so they'd fit the story.**

Chapter 43: The double-date

As the sun rose to begin the new day, Twilight and I kept our word and woke up early so we could have some time together before our double-date with Celestia and Discord tonight.

While we were getting ready to head out, Twilight managed to find a healing spell in one of the Spell Books she brought with her. She used it to heal the scratches on my cheek, now it looked completely clear and I didn't need the band-aids anymore.

**Canterlot Pool-side**

As Celestia's sun shun brightly down over Canterlot, Twilight and I were once again spending our time by the Pool-side enjoying the warm weather.

While Twilight was having a nice swim in the pool, I lied on one of the massage-beds with a female employee massaged my back. It felt great, I've never had a back massage before, but I was beginning to like it.

Blaze Horn was standing beside the bed I was lying on with a determined look on his face, he really took his job seriously, even if it wasn't that big of a deal.

I opened my eyes before I looked over to him. "Hey Blaze, maybe you should relax a little bit. Try one of these back massages, they feel amazing." I said before I felt the massager hit a good-spot on my back. "Oooh, _really_ amazing." I moaned.

Blaze looked down at me and chuckled. "Haha, no thanks. Like I keep saying, I'm on duty and I can't afford any distractions." He stated.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're only duty is to aid and protect me and Twilight, but don't you ever take a break and chill out?" I asked.

"Only on weekends, Mr Matthew…Oh, and I almost forgot. I have a message from Princess Celestia, she requests something from you." Blaze stated.

The relaxing feeling left my mind as I gave Blaze my full attention. If it involved the Princess, it must be important. "What is it, Blaze? Does it involve the date tonight?" I asked.

Blaze shook his head. "No, it isn't about that. You see, there're some new guards coming in a few weeks and the Princess was wondering if you could be there when we first meet them." he said.

Hearing this sent a worrying feeling through my body. I've only been married to Twilight for a few days, I shouldn't be planning things like this, not on our honeymoon. "Well…I don't know, Blaze. I have Twilight to think about now, I can't just leave her alone at the library like that." I said.

"Oh Twilight can come too, the Princess would be more than happy to have you both there. It's a very important event when new recues join the royal guard, it's the day when they turn from trainees to soldiers." Blaze stated.

After hearing this, I rubbed my chin with my hoof as I thought about it. "Well…I'm still not sure, Blaze. I'm gonna have to talk it over with Twilight." I said.

"Fair enough, sir." Blaze said with a small smile.

"You know, you can call me Matt. I like it better than '_sir_' or '_Mr Matthew_'." I stated.

Blaze nodded slightly. "Understood…Matt." he said as he gave me a friendly wink.

The massager then finished rubbing my back and I paid her. As I stepped down from the massage-bed, my back felt so flexible and refreshed, the massagers here really knew how to give a mean back rub.

"Oh…my back feels great, I don't know if it's ever felt so-AH!" I yelled as a small amount of water splashed against me.

I looked down at the pool to see Twilight swimming close to the edge, she gave me a small smirk before she splashed me again; soaking my face.

I shook the water off my face before I smirked back. "So that's the game you want to play, is it?" I said under my breath.

With that, I leaped into the pool and swam towards Twilight. She saw me coming closer before she started to swim backwards. "Matt, don't even think about it." she said as I got close to her.

"Never do." I responded with a devious grin, I then pulled back one of my hooves before I thrust it forward; causing a large amount of water to splash in front of Twilight.

Twilight let out a playful scream as the water waved over her body and got her even wetter. Her flat mane was now dripping with water, a part of her fringe was even covering her right-eye. Twilight then grinned before she splashed me back.

We both soon began to splash each other hard like a couple of school-ponies. But after a minute of mindless splashing, Twilight began to paddle away from me.

I noticed this before I paddled after her, I even cheated by using my wings like oars; causing me to move faster.

As I began to catch up with Twilight, she suddenly turned around before her horn glowed. Three chunks of water then rose up from the pool's surface before they stopped above Twilight's head, she gave me an evil smile before one of the water-balls hurled towards me and slashed in my face.

After I wiped the water off my eyes again, I saw that Twilight had made a few more water-balls. I gulped hard before I quickly turned around and swam away. "Ok, you win! I give, I give!" I said as I swam with all my might.

But that didn't stop Twilight from swimming after me while throwing the water-balls at the back of my head. It was all fun and games, so I couldn't help but laugh as she kept throwing the water-balls at me.

While we kept playing in the pool, an amused smile came on Blaze's face as he watched us. "There's never been a sight more perfect." He said to himself.

**Meanwhile: Princess Celestia's room**

Princess Celestia was already getting ready for her date with Discord tonight.

While she was getting ready, three of her best unicorn maids helped her. They were called _Dusty_, _Shiny_, and_ Pearl Blossom._ And to top it off, they were sisters. (You can decide what they look like, but they don't wear outfits.)

After years of cleaning for Celestia, they had become close friends with her. She could always rely on them to help her with other things besides from cleaning. In this case, helping her get ready for a date.

While Celestia was sitting in front of her make-up desk, Shiny was combing her rippling mane with a golden brush. "I really appreciate your help, girls. I need to look my best for tonight." Celestia said as she stared at her reflection.

"It's our pleasure, your highness. And don't worry, we'll make sure you look magnificent." Shiny said as she continued to comb Celestia's mane.

"I still can't believe you're actually going out with Discord. No offence, but the guy's kinda creepy. And didn't you two use to be enemies? How come you want to date him all-of-a-sudden?" Pearl asked from across the room with Dusty sitting beside her.

Celestia then looked over to Pearl and smiled. "Because he's changed now, I like having him around. Besides, we've been on a date before. Is there really anything wrong with spending time with a good friend?" she asked.

Pearl quickly shook her head. "No, there's no problem at all." She said before Celestia turned her attention back to her mirror.

Just then, Dusty leaned over to Peal. "Except if your '_good friend'_ use to be the Master of Chaos." She whispered.

Shiny then went back to combing Celestia's mane "Well I'm happy for you, Princess. Especially now that you're starting to date again, why is it you stopped in the first-place?" She asked.

The moment she asked that question, Celestia's small smile turned into a frown. She looked down at her desk as she thought about her last relationship with the late Grimerd, Celestia remembered how she believed in him and loved him. But after his betrayal and death, she never had a romantic relationship with anypony since.

"I...I'd rather not talk about it, if you don't mind." Celestia said in a slightly sad tone.

Shiny did notice the tone in Celestia's voice, but she thought it best not to ask. "Well whatever the reason, we're just glad you decided to get back out there." She said as she kept brushing Celestia's mane.

Celestia then turned her head around to face Shiny with an unsure look. "To be honest…I wouldn't call it a date." She said.

Shiny gave her a confused look. "But…I don't understand, aren't you going out with Discord tonight?" she asked.

"Yes, that's true." Celestia answered.

"So isn't it technically a date?" Shiny asked.

"It is, but…I just don't want to refer to it as a date, I like to think of it as _an evening out with a friend_." Celestia said before she turned her head back around to face her reflection.

Shiny was confused by Celestia's words, she looked over to Dusty and Pearly to see them shrug their shoulders; stating that they didn't understand either.

Shiny then turned her attention back on the Princess's mane. "All right then." She said still rather confused.

As Shiny went back to brushing her mane, Celestia thought about why she just said that and why she didn't want to think of this evening as a date.

"I cannot believe I just said all that, I was so looking forward to this evening and now I'm afraid to go. I want to call it a date, I really do. But…after my relationship with Grimerd went terribly wrong, I've been afraid to gain another in case it ends the same way. I once decided to let go of the past and get back into dating, that's why I agreed to Discord's offer. But my last relationship broke my heart, I don't want to go through it all again." Celestia thought.

After thinking about for a little more, a feeling of confidence soon came to Celestia. "No! I won't allow myself to live like this! Just because a relationship I had in the past went wrong doesn't mean my _future_ ones will end the same way. I don't care how I feel, I am going on this date tonight!" she thought strongly.

Celestia's strong attitude didn't last very long when a part of her worried feelings returned. "Well…I'll call it a date, but it shouldn't be anything else. I trust Discord and I like him, but anything can happen in the future." She thought.

After a few more minutes, Shiny finished combing Celestia's mane and placed the brush down. "There, now all you have to do is choose your dress." She said before she walked across the room to the wardrobe.

Celestia then stood up before she followed her. When they reached the wardrobe, Shiny opened it with her magic before they started searching through it to find the perfect dress.

While Shiny and Celestia were looking through the wardrobe, Pearl turned her head to face Dusty. "I still don't know what the Princess sees in Discord." She said.

Dusty then looked at her. "Me neither." She said.

**Meanwhile: Discord's room**

"I still don't know what the Princess sees in me." Discord said while looking at his reflection in the mirror.

He was wearing a black tuxedo. And when he snapped his fingers, his suit changed into a different colour. But no matter how many colours he tried, he always found it difficult to decide.

By now, Discord had already tried 12 different colours, but none felt right to him. "I mean, I know she likes me and all. But I still don't understand why she would consider dating me, especially after our history." He said to himself.

The Diamond Dogs, who were sitting on a large red couch on the other side of the room, listened to him talk to himself before Rover spoke. "Maybe the Pony Princess has special feelings for you, Lord Discord." He said.

Discord then turned around to face them. "Feelings?...For me? Do you three actually believe that she, of all ponies, would like me in…_that way_?" he asked with his arms crossed.

They all smiled as they nodded. "Oh yes, Lord Discord. I think she would, she really likes you." Fido stated.

"And besides, what's not to like about you?" Spot asked trying to butter-up Discord.

After hearing all that, Discord stroked his beard as he thought about it. "Well, I suppose you're right. She did say she liked spending time with me, and we have dated before." He said in a more cheerful tone.

"Exactly, so what are you worried about?" Rover asked.

A confident smile came on Discord's face. "Nothing. I'm spending the evening with a beautiful mare, and I'm going to enjoy it. Now, I need to choose the right colour from my suit. What do you boys think? Black, red, or yellow?" he asked as his suit changed into the 3 colours.

"Oh, how about yellow, Lord Discord?" Rover said.

"No, red! Red looks better on you." Spot said loudly to get Discord's attention.

"Red's too bright, go with the blue one." Fido said.

Discord looked at him with a raised eye brow. "I didn't suggest blue." He stated.

After hearing this, Fido felt sheepish. "Oh right…urr…how about the green one?" he asked.

Discord almost face-handed himself, but instead just rolled his eyes. "You know, I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear that and go with the black one." He stated before his yellow tux into a black one with a flash of light.

When Discord turned back around to face his reflection, he began to adjust his red bow-tie to make sure it looked good.

meanwhile, Rover turned his head to face Fido and Spot. "Hey, do you think Lord Discord is a little nervous about this date?" he whispered.

Fido and Spot looked at him. "What do you mean? Are you saying you don't believe our master can go through with it?" Fido asked.

"Of course not! I would never question Lord Discord, I'm just saying he may need a little help in case he makes a mistake and gets into a jam." He said.

"But he's not in jam, he can't even fit into a jar!" Spot said in confusion.

Rover face-handed himself in frustration. "Grr…that's not what I meant, I meant someone needs to be there to help him in case things get out-of-hand." He stated.

"So what do you plan to do? Hire someone to follow them around on their date and make sure everything goes right?" Fido asked with his arms crossed.

Rover then grinned as he shook his head. "No, _we're_ gonna follow them around on their date and make sure everything goes right." He said.

This caught Fido and Spot by surprise, but it also made them worried about how Discord would react if they got caught. "You want us to follow Lord Discord on his date? But what if he spots us? We'll get in big trouble." Spot stated with worry.

"That's why we're going to hide while wearing clever disguises, Lord Discord won't see _or_ recognise us. It's the perfect plan." Rover said while rubbing his hands together deviously.

"Do you really think that'll work?" Fido asked.

Rover nodded. "Yes, but I need to know if you two are with me. Come on, do it to help Lord Discord." He said.

Fido and Spot looked at each other before they looked at Rover again. "Ok." They both said at the same time.

"Excellent." Rover said.

The Diamond Dogs then huddled around each other before they went through the plan. "Now, here's what we're going to do…" Rover said as he began.

**Later that evening**

When it started to get dark, Twilight and I returned to the suite to get ready for the double-date.

While I was wearing my black tuxedo again, Twilight was wearing her glittery dark-purple dress. To my surprise, it was the same dress she wore on the night we first kissed. And after all these months, she still looked breath-taking in it.

After we got ready, Twilight went through the male to find a letter from Shining Armor. According to the letter, everything is fine at the library and everyone is getting along great. Hearing this brought me relief, I've been worried about Spike and the others lately.

It also said that my family had made it back to England safely. I was glad to hear this too, and hopefully we'll see them again soon.

A few minutes after, Celestia and Discord came up to our suite to collect us.

While Discord was wearing a black tuxedo like me, Celestia was wearing a beautiful pearl-white dress that sparkled as much as her wonderfully combed mane. I've always seen her as beautiful, but I haven't seen her _this_ beautiful before.

We were now walking through the streets of Canterlot with everypony eyeing at us, they were mostly looking at Celestia and Discord.

They all had looks of confusion, disgust, and shock. Obviously they had never expected their Princess to date someone like Discord, they even started to whisper amongst themselves as they continued to watch them.

But Celestia and Discord took no notice, they just kept walking without a care in the world.

Twilight and I were following a few feet behind them. in the silence between us, I was thinking about this date. "Discord seems calmer about this whole thing now, and this is his first _actual_ date with Celestia. Does he still need us to be with him? Or will we just ruin the atmosphere for them? I don't want to do that, maybe I should talk it over with Twilight." I thought.

With that, I turned my head to face Twilight. "Hey Twi." I said.

Twilight then looked at me. "Yeah?" she responded with a smile.

"Listen, I've been thinking…maybe we should let Discord and Celestia take it from here and we can go have our own private date, just the two of us." I said.

Twilight then gave me a really surprised look, which was exactly the reaction I was afraid of. "What? You want us to leave before we even get there? Matt, you're the one who arranged all this in the first place!" She said.

"I know, I just think we should give them some privacy. It's Discord's first romantic date, and Celestia hasn't had a proper date since…well, she hasn't had a date for years. I just want everything to be perfect for them, you know?" I said in an honest tone.

After hearing this, Twilight looked at the ground as she thought about it. "I see what he means, Discord _does_ look more confident. But this is Princess Celestia, my teacher, we can't just leave after we said we'd spend the evening with her. I have to convince Matt to continue this…and I know just how to do it." She thought.

Twilight looked at me again before she took a step closer. "Alright, let's make a deal." she said with a serious face.

"Umm…Ok, what is it?" I asked curiously.

"We keep this double-date going to make sure Celestia and Discord have a good time." Twilight said before her serious look turned into a sly smile.

She then moved closer to me and began rubbing my chest softly with her hoof. "And once we get back to the suite, we can-" Twilight said before she started whispering into my ear.

The things Twilight whispered to me made my eyes widened, my face began to burn from blushing.

Once she was done, Twilight pulled away before she saw the look on my face, she giggled at the sight. "Deal?" she asked with her arms wrapped around my neck.

I then shook off my stunned expression before I looked at Twilight's face, I gave her an innocent smile. "T-Totally." I answered.

Twilight grinned at this. "Works every time." She thought.

"Thank you, but we'll only do those things if you're a good boy tonight." Twilight teased before she released my neck and walked away to catch up with Celestia and Discord.

I remained where I stood as Twilight walk away from me, the things she whispered in my ear aroused me to the point where I couldn't move. After a few seconds, I looked up at the night-sky with desperation. "Oh great Pony God, I know I talk to you much, but please let there be no interruptions tonight." I said out-loud.

"Matt, are you coming?" a female voice called.

I then looked to where it came from to see Twilight waiting for me up the road. "Oh…yeah, I'm coming." I said before I trotted over to her.

Once I reached her, we both continued to follow Celestia and Discord towards the restaurant.

**Later: The Canterlot restaurant**

After arriving at the restaurant, we were now sat by our table admiring the surroundings.

The dining-room we were in was massive, there was a large glass chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and there was a String-quartet playing fancy music on a small stage.

As we ate our food, we told each other interesting and humorous stories. And seeing how Twilight, Celestia, and Discord knew that I was once a human, I told them about events that happened when I was in England.

"So after waiting for a long time, my Dad came home and told me to take cover inside the bath. Once I did, he broke the door open." I said; ending my story.

Twilight looked at me with an amused smile. "I still can't believe you locked yourself in your own bathroom." She said.

I turned my head to face her. "It was an accident. The lock was rusty, it got stuck." I protested while sharing her smile.

This made everyone laugh slightly. "So what happened after that? Did the lock break?" Discord asked.

I then looked at her. "Yeah, we fixed the door, but we didn't bother getting another lock." I said before I leaned down and took a bite out of the cooked salad in front of me.

While I was chewing my food, Celestia spoke. "So anyway, how's your honeymoon going? I've been curious for the last few days." she said.

"It's been great, the Pool-side is wonderful, Matt and I go there every day. Thank you so much for letting us to spend time there." Twilight said with a thankful smile.

Celestia smiled back. "You're very welcome, and how are things with Blaze Horn? Are you getting along with him well?" she asked.

After I chewed my food enough, I swallowed it before I spoke. "Yeah, he's ok. He reminds me a lot of Shining Armor."

"And he takes his guard duties just as seriously." Twilight added.

"Well I'm not surprised, Blaze is one of those ponies who like to do the job right, no matter how difficult it may be." Celestia said before her horn glowed.

Her tea-cup then floated up from the table before she noticed it was empty. "Oh…does anyone know when the Waiter will come back? I seem to be out of tea." She said to us.

After hearing this, Discord stroked his chin with his talon-hand before a small smile came on his face. "One refill coming up." he said before he snapped his fingers.

With a small flash of light, a blue tea-pot appeared in front of Celestia and poured warm tea into her cup; filling it before disappearing in another flash of light.

Celestia looked down at her cup before she took another small sip. After tasting it, a smile appeared on her face. "Discord, this tea is wonderful. Thank you." she said giving him a thankful smile.

Discord smiled back. "My pleasure, Princess." He said.

As they smiled kindly at each other, Twilight and I could definitely see that there was something going on between them.

Their smiles soon faded away as they noticed us smirking at them. "Well, I see your relationship's going well." I said.

Celestia and Discord blushed deeply, they started to mutter things like "_Well I…err…_", "_Relationship?_", and "_I was just…you know…_" It seemed a bit awkward for them.

I chuckled slightly before I put my hoof up. "Guys, I was just messing with you." I said trying to calm them down.

Celestia and Discord continued to blush as they smiled sheepishly at us. "Oh…of course, just messing." Celestia said.

"A bit of harmless humor. Haha, you're a funny guy, Matt." Discord said as he rubbed the back of his head with his lion hand.

Twilight and I then noticed their blushing faces, we began to wonder what was causing them. "Are you two ok?" Twilight asked curiously.

"We're fine!" They both answered loudly at the same time.

Celestia was surprised by her volume and quickly covered her mouth with her hoof. Discord was also surprised by his own volume, he remained perfectly still as he tried to avoid eye-contact with any of the other customers.

They both then looked around to see if anyone was looking at them. Thankfully, it seemed no one heard them. Celestia calmly removed her hoof from her mouth. "Forgive me…I…I don't know why I answered so loudly." she said.

"I also apologize, I don't know what came over me." Discord stated as he rubbed his hands nervously.

Celestia then looked up at Discord. "M-Maybe we should just get back to eating our food." She said trying to end the awkwardness.

Discord turned his head to face her. "Yes, I agree. We can talk a little more later." He said in agreement.

With that, they both went back to eating their food, trying to pretend as though nothing happened. Twilight and I looked at each other before we decided to do the same.

Meanwhile, three figures were sitting on one of the far tables behind me and Twilight, they were each holding a menu in front of their faces. When they placed the menus down, they revealed themselves as the Diamond Dogs in unusual disguises.

Rover was wearing a brown hat with shades over his eyes, Fido was wearing a black fake-beard , and Spot was wearing a colourful propeller-hat to make him look like a child.

"What do you think's going on over there?" Rover asked as he kept his eyes on our table.

"I don't know, I can't hear anything from over here." Fido answered.

"Maybe they're not talking, maybe the date's not going as well as we thought." Spot said in a worried tone.

"What're you talking about?" a female voice said beside them, the Diamond Dogs quickly turned their heads to see three other figures sitting on the same table as them with menus in front of their faces.

They each placed them down to reveal themselves as Dusty, Pearl, and Shiny. Instead of disguises, they were each wearing a lovely dress. Shiny was wearing a green dress, Dusty was wearing a red dress, and Pearl was wearing a light-blue dress.

"Of course everything's alright over there, they're both just trying to hide their feelings from each other." Dusty stated with a raised eye brow.

Rover gave them a confused look. "Err…who are you and why are you on our table?" he asked.

"We're Princess Celestia's royal maids. And we're doing the exact same thing as you're doing, we're following the Princess to make sure her date with Discord goes well." Pearl answered.

"How did you know what we were doing?" Fido asked slightly worried that their cover had been blown.

"We saw you following them on the way here. We figured you were doing the same thing as we were, seeing how you're Discord's pets and all." Shiny said with a smirk on her face.

Spot gave her a small glare. "Hey, we may be dogs, but we are _not_ pets!" he responded firmly.

Shiny kept smirking at him. "Oh really? Did Discord give you your little bones today?" she said.

Spot's firm look quickly went away. "No, he forgot. We're hoping he'll give us them once the date is over." He answered indecently.

Rover quickly turned his head to face Spot. "Don't tell them that!" he said before he smacked Spot over his head for his stupidity; earning a small laugh from the three maids.

Rover then turned his attention back to them. "What do you three want anyway?" he asked in an irritated tone.

"The same thing _you_ want, to make sure the one we care about has a wonderful evening with their date. And to avoid any unnecessary arguments, I suggest we all work together to achieve our goal." Dusty explained in a serious tone.

Rover rubbed his chin as he thought about it, he then turned around to face Fido and Spot before they started whispering to each other. After a small discussion, they all nodded before Rover turned back around to face the girls again. "Alright, we have an agreement. Deal?" he said as he held his hand out to Dusty.

Dusty then grabbed it with her hoof before she shook it up and down. "Deal." She said with a pleased smile.

"So what should we do now?" Fido asked.

Dusty released Rover's hand before she looked over to him. "Now…we watch and listen." She stated with a grin.

With that, they all locked their focus onto our table. They sat there in silence with their eyes wide open, making sure not to miss a single second of what was happening.

After a great meal, we were all leaning back on our chairs with satisfied smiles on our faces.

Over by the other table, the Diamond Dogs and Celestia's maids were still watching us. Feeling tired and bored, they all had a tough time keeping their eye-lids open. Spot was the closest to sleeping, he would have too if he hadn't grab a glass of water and pour it over himself.

Back at our table, we all felt our food start to settle in before we sat back up on our chairs. "Ah, that was delicious." Twilight said.

"Indeed, I couldn't eat another bite." Discord stated.

"Me neither, I think my stomach would burst." I stated as I patted my full stomach with my hoof.

Celestia then nodded in agreement. "Yes, that was a wonderful meal. But it's getting late, I think it's time for us to pay the bill and make our-"

Celestia was then cut off by the sound of the String-Quartet changing the tune in their music, the sound of it was smoothing and bright. It was beautiful, like something you'd hear in a slow-dance song.

Even though I had never heard it before, it was all too familiar to Celestia. A large smile soon came on her face. "Oh, I love this song." She said in delight.

At that moment, Discord looked at the Quartet to see a small number of ponies slowly dancing in front of them. The floor they were dancing on was sparkling with cleanliness, it must've been a posh dance-floor or something.

Discord then turned his attention back to Celestia before a small smile came on his face. "Really?" he asked before he stood up from his chair. "Would you…care to dance?" he asked nervously with his talon-hand held down to her.

Celestia was slightly surprised by this sudden question, she never thought Discord would want to dance to this type of music. She looked up at his face to see his kind smile, she couldn't help but smile back. "…I'd love to…" she answered.

With that, Celestia placed her hoof on Discord's hand before he helped her up. She then placed her hoof back down on the floor before they made their way towards the dance-floor.

While Twilight and I watched them walk away, the Diamond Dogs and Celestia's maids quickly became aware of what was happening. However, Fido and Spot had fallen asleep from waiting too long.

After hearing their small snores, Rover turned his head to see his two friends sleeping. "Hey…hey, wake up, we have movement." He said as he shuck Fido and Spot to wake them up.

Fido and Spot's eyes then shot open before they looked around it confusion. "Wha? What's going on?" Spot asked.

"The Princess and Discord are on the move, they're heading towards the dance-floor." Shiny said without taking her eyes off Discord and Celestia.

Fido and Spot quickly looked over to see them. "Drat, how are we going to hear them now?" Fido asked in a frustrated tone.

"Someone's gotta go over there and keep an eye on them. We don't want to blow our cover, so whoever goes has to blend in with the crowd." Dusty said.

Rover then turned her head to face her. "And how do you expect us to do that?" he asked with a raised eye brow.

"…We're going for a little dance…" Dusty answered before she grabbed Rover's hand with her hoof and rushed towards the dance-floor with him stumbling behind her.

Meanwhile, Celestia and Discord walked onto the dance-floor before they turned around to face each other, they stared into each other's eyes as the soft music continued to play.

Discord held his lion-hand in front of Celestia before she gently placed her hoof on its palm, Celestia had to stand on her hind-legs so she could hold Discord's shoulder with her other hoof.

With their eyes now at the same level, Discord held Celestia's waist with his talon-hand before they started waltzing to the music.

Dusty and Rover soon got in the same position before they started to dance too, they each stared at Discord and Celestia through the corner of their eyes. "If you stand on my hooves even once, I'll break your tail." Dusty threatened in a whisper.

"Shhh, stop talking." Rover whispered.

Dusty then looked at him with her mouth open, she looked slightly offended. "Did you just tell me to-"

"Shut up, you'll give us away!" Rover said in a loud whisper as he looked at Dusty firmly.

Dusty huffed before they both went back to watching Celestia and Discord dance.

While Discord smiled at her, Celestia had a blank expression on her face, as if she was lost in deep thought. She was thinking about Discord's behaviour tonight, he seemed more charming then he usually did. She was also impressed by his waltzing, he was so light on his feet.

After a few minutes, Celestia couldn't help but let a small smile grow on her face. "I…I'm impressed, Discord. I never knew you were quite the dancer. I saw how good you were at the Gala, but I've never seen you waltz before." She said.

"Why thank you, Princess. I know I may not look it, but I've always had a heart for any type of dance." Discord stated as he continued to waltz with Celestia.

"I can tell, you're very good at this. I never took you for one who likes to waltz, especially to this music." Celestia said while listening to the music in the background.

"Well, that shows I'm fully of surprises." Discord stated with a smirk on his face.

"I didn't need to dance with you to know that." Celestia joked before she giggle a little.

Discord chuckled at her small joke before they continued to waltz in silence.

After a few minutes, the music ended, but Celestia and Discord continued to hold each other. As Celestia stared into Discord's large yellow eyes, she could've sworn she saw a small sparkle in them. At that moment, she felt her heart beat slightly faster; causing a warm shiver to flow up her body.

Suddenly, Celestia snapped back into reality before her eyes widened slightly. She stepped down off Discord's body before she rubbed her leg with her hoof, almost as if she was nervous. "Umm…thank you for the lovely dance, Discord." She said as kindly as possible.

Even though it was obvious, Discord didn't notice her sudden nervous behaviour, he just smiled back down at her. "It was my pleasure, Princess." He said while giving her a small bow.

Celestia and Discord had a small talk before they headed back towards our table. As they walked away, Dusty and Rover were still on the dance-floor watching them. "Well, that worked out well." Rover said in a pleased tone.

"Yeah, but we still need to keep an eye on them, this date isn't over yet." Dusty stated before they both made their way back to their own table.

Twilight and I watched as Celestia and Discord approached the table. "Twilight, Matthew, do you mind if Celestia and I take everything from here? We want to go for a little walk and get some fresh air." Discord said.

Twilight and I looked at each other before we looked at them again. "Err…sure, go ahead." I answered.

Celestia gave us a thankful smile. "Thank you for understanding. I had a wonderful evening, thank you both ever so much form this." She said kindly.

"Anytime, Princess." Twilight said with warm smile before Celestia and Discord walked away from us.

As they were about to walk through the exit, Celestia and Discord stopped before they turned around and waved goodbye to us, Twilight and I waved back before they walked out of the restaurant and into the streets.

The Diamond Dogs and Celestia's maids were also watching them leave. "They're leaving, should we follow them?" Fido asked.

Shiny then turned her head to face him. "Dah, how else are we gonna keep an eye on them?" she stated.

Just then, Dusty stood up from her seat. "Then why are we still sitting around? C'mon, let's go before we lose them!" she said firmly before they all rushed off their seats and left the restraint.

With Celestia and Discord now gone, Twilight and I were trying to think of something to do for the rest of the evening. "So what should we do now? It's just the two of us." Twilight said.

I gave her an unsure look. "I'm not sure, Twi. Discord and Celestia are gone now, so I think the double-date's over. Should we call-it-a-night and go back to the suite?" I asked.

Twilight thought about it before she let out a small sigh. "Ok, I'm kinda tired anyway." She said in what sounded like a disappointed tone.

Seeing her unhappy-look always upsets me, I then tried to think of a way to make the night last a little longer for us. Just then, I heard the String Quartet start to play another sweet-sounding song. I soon gained an idea.

I stepped out of my seat before I held my hoof out to Twilight, she looked at it with confusion before she saw the smile on my face. "May I have this dance?" I asked.

Twilight gave me a sweet smile, she placed her hoof on mine and stepped out of her seat. We then walked onto the dance-floor before we started to dance to the soft music, neither of us wanted to look away from each other's eyes.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot Park**

Unlike the Castle Gardens, the Canterlot Park was much bigger with more trees and flowers. There was even a small humpback-bridge that stretched across a calm stream.

Celestia and Discord had already arrived there and were now crossing the bridge, they both looked around at the park's beauty. "Wow…I've never actually been to this part of Canterlot before." Discord stated.

Celestia looked at him with slight surprise. "Really?...I use to come here all the time when I was young, I once even came here with…" she suddenly stopped in her sentence as he smile faded away.

Discord noticed this and grew concerned for her. "Princess, are you ok?" he asked.

Celestia snapped back into reality before she looked up at him. "What?...oh, yes I'm fine. Urr, can we find a place to sit down? My hooves are starting to ach a little." She said before she quickly walked across the rest of the bridge and sat down on a near-by stone bench.

Discord wondered why she was acting so odd all-of-a-sudden. But being the smart spirit he was, he already knew the answer. He then followed her across the bridge before he sat down beside her.

Discord looked at Celestia to see she had her head turned away from him, there was a moment of silence before he broke it. "You…came here with that stallion once, didn't you? The one from your academy. Grimerd, right?" he said.

Celestia didn't look at him, she could only sigh. "We came here on our first date…_my_ first date…It was so magical, and he was so charming and kind. I sometimes find it hard to believe somepony like him could've turned into something so…sinister…so dark. He betrayed all of us" She stated with sadness in her eyes.

Discord couldn't help but feel bad for her. "But he betrayed you most of all, didn't he?...He betrayed your heart." He said.

Tears began to form in Celestia's eyes. "Yes…but we didn't even give him a chance to come back, he's dead now…and I'm the one who killed him." She choked as a tear ran down her cheek.

Discord could tell she was starting to cry, he placed his talon-hand on her shoulder before she turned around to face him. Discord had never seen Celestia so sad, it made him feel even worse about the situation.

Celestia sniffed as Discord placed his lion-hand on her cheek and whipped the tear away with his thump. "Celestia…I know it hurts, and I know he hurt you in a way even _I_ can't imagine. But I promise you this…no matter what happens between us, I will never…_never_…hurt you." He stated.

Celestia looked at him with wide eyes, she had never seen the passionate side of him before. "Discord, I…I don't know what to say…except-"

Celestia was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping, they both looked over to where it came from to see a large bush on the other side of the path. After staring at it for a few seconds, they saw it rustle slightly.

Discord gave the bush a suspicious glare before he snapped his fingers and the bush rose up off the ground; revealing the Diamond Dogs and Celestia's maids sitting behind it. "Haha, hi, Princess." Dusty said sheepishly.

"Dusty?...Shiny?...Pearl? What're you doing here?" Celestia asked in surprise.

The three maids smiled nervously at her. "Oh, us?...Well, the thing about that is…well…" Shiny said as she tried to think of something.

Meanwhile, the Diamond Dogs looked up at Discord with fear. Discord crossed his arms with his left eye brow raised. "And what are you three doing here with them?" he asked.

They all stared up at him as they tried to think of an excuse. "…Urrr…" Was all Rover could say.

"What he said!" Spot blurted out while pointing at Rover.

Discord raised his eye brow higher. "From how I see it, it looks as though you and these maids were spying on us." he said with a disapproved look.

The Diamond Dogs began to sweat. "Oh no, we'd never spy on you and the Princess, Lord Discord. Haha." Fido laughed nervously.

"We were merely following you to make sure your date goes well." Spot stated.

"SPOT!" Rover, Fido and the maids yelled at the same time.

"Following us, huh? Well thanks to all of you, the moment Celestia and I were sharing is now ruined. What do you have to say for yourselves?" Discord asked in a firm voice.

The Diamond Dogs began to beg in front of their master. "We only wanted to help you, Lord Discord. We had good intensions, please have mercy on us!" Rover said loudly.

Dusty could only roll her eyes at this sight. "What a bunch of babies." She said under her breath.

"Well I appreciate you concerns, but what happens on my date is none of your business and you shouldn't get involved. Now with that said, I suggest you return to the castle immediately." Discord said firmly.

"Err…very well, Lord Discord. But can we say one thing?" Rover asked.

"Hmm…nope." Discord answered before he snapped his fingers. The Diamond Dogs didn't have time to say anything else before they disappeared in a flash of light.

With that done, Discord turned around to face Celestia with a calmer look. "I'm sorry about that, Princess. I didn't know they were following us this whole time." He stated.

"It's quite alright, Discord. I didn't know either, but I'm going to have a firm talk with my assistants once we get back to the castle." Celestia said as she glanced over to her maids.

"So before I go, what was it you were going to say to me?" Discord asked.

Celestia looked up at him nervously. After the moment was ruined, she forgot what she was going to say. "I was…I was going to say…"

Just then, Celestia stood up before she gave Discord a small kiss on his cheek; making him to blush deeply. "I was going to say thank you for everything." She answered with a sweet smile.

Discord smiled back. "Y-You're welcome, Princess." He said kindly.

Discord then suddenly thought of something to seal-the-deal. He snapped his fingers before a yellow rose appeared in his lion-hand, he held it out to Celestia before she took it in her magic. "Discord…it's lovely." Celestia said as she stared at its beauty.

"Much like the pony it now belongs to." Discord said while still blushing.

After hearing his complement, Celestia blushed slightly as well.

Discord rubbed the back of his head while still smiling. "Well…I should be going now. Goodnight, Princess. Sleep well." He said kindly.

Celestia smiled up at him. "Goodnight, Discord." She said.

Discord then snapped his fingers before he disappeared in a flash of light; leaving Celestia alone with her maids.

Once he was gone, Celestia looked at the yellow rose he gave her, she couldn't help but smile at it.

Just then, the thoughts of her last relationship came back to her. The smile on her face then faded as she remembered how Grimerd hurt her, how he once stole her heart before breaking it like glass. Would she really go through all that again?

Celestia didn't want to admit it, but she still questioned Discord's loyalty at time-to-time. But Celestia couldn't deny she had feelings for hum, not after everything they've done together.

After a few silent seconds, Dusty stepped forward with a concerned look on her face. "Princess?" she said.

But Celestia didn't look at her, she just kept staring at the rose before she placed it down beside her and stood up from the stone bench.

The three maids watched as Celestia walked passed them and went deeper into the park.

As Celestia walked further away from them, Dusty looked over to the yellow rose before she gapped it with her mouth. She, Shiny, and Pearl then galloped after Celestia to catch up with her.

As she wondered within the park, Celestia thought about how deep she was letting Discord into her heart. She was still unsure about having a _romantic_ relationship, especially after her last one with Grimerd. She didn't know whether to let Discord in, or keep their relationship at a _professional_ level.

When the maids finally caught up, they saw Celestia standing in the middle of the path with her head down. They heard her let out a loud sigh before she spoke. "What have I gotten myself into? You think I would've learned by now." Celestia said to herself before she kept walking, the maids followed.

Even though Celestia knew they were following her, it didn't stop her from thinking about the situation. She soon began to sing to herself with the maids listening from behind.

**Celestia: **"_If there's a prize for rotten judgment…I guess I've already won that…_

_Not stallion's worth the aggravation…_

_That's ancient history – been there, done that!"_

**Dusty, Shiny and Pearl:** "_Who d'ya think you're kidding? He's the earth and heaven to you_

_Try to keep it hidden. Honey, we can see right through you_

_Girl, you can't conceal it. We know how ya feel and who you're thiiiinking oooof."_

**Celestia: **"_Oh, no chance, no way, I won't say it – no, no."_

**Dusty, Shiny and Pearl: **"_You swoon, you sigh, why deny it? Uh-oh!"_

**Celestia: **"_It's too cliché, I won't say I'm in loooove…._

_I thought my heart had learned it's lesson, it feels so good when you start out_

_My head is screaming 'Get a grip, girl!'…_

_Unless you're dying to cry your heart out."_

**Dusty, Shiny and Pearl: **"_You keep on denying - who you are and how you're feeling_

_Baby, we're not buyin' _

_Hon, we saw you hit the ceilin' _

_Face it like a grown-up! When ya gonna own up that ya got, got, got it BAD?!"_

**Celestia: **"_Oh, no chance, no way, I won't say it – no, no."_

**Dusty, Shiny and Pearl: **"_Give up, but give in." _**Pearl: **"_Check the grin, you're in love."_

**Celestia: **"_This scene won't play, I won't say I'm in loooove."_

**Dusty, Shiny and Pearl: **"_You're doin' flips, read our lips, you're in love." _

**Celestia: **"_You're way off base, I won't say it_

_Get off my case, I won't say it." _

**Dusty, Shiny and Pearl: **"_Girl, don't be proud. It's ok, you're in love."_

As Celestia sat down on another stone bench, Dusty walked over to her and held the rose out to her. Celestia then took it with her magic before she smiled sweetly at it.

**Celestia: **"_Oh, at least out loud…I won't say I'm iiiin…loooove."_

Celestia continued to smile as she gently stroked the rose's head with her hoof. Dusty, Shiny and Pearl sighed at the sight of this, they were glad to see Celestia had finally chosen to give in to her feelings.

As she staring dreamily at the rose, Celestia became lost in a day-dream. The only sound she could hear was the light beating of her heart. "Perhaps…I could give it a chance." She thought before she sniffed of the rose and sighed at its sweet aroma.

Celestia and her maids stayed there for a few more minutes before they left the park and made their way back to the castle; ending the best date Celestia had in years.

**Meanwhile: Canterlot streets**

After spending half-an-hour at the restaurant, Twilight and I were ready to head back to the suite.

Twilight had kept her part of the deal and we were gonna have our special night once we got back, I'm not embarrassed to admit I was excited.

But I wanted to do something that would make tonight feel more romantic. After thinking for a few minutes, I thought of a way. But I needed to do it alone, or-else it wouldn't be a surprise.

Luckily, the gentle breeze was too cold for Twilight, so I told her to go to the suite without me and get warm.

Twilight soon agreed and left me in the streets by myself; giving me the perfect opportunity to form my surprise for her.

After running the errand, I was now heading back to the suite again, but this time I had a large bouquet of red roses in my mouth. "I hope Twilight likes these." I thought.

Suddenly, something smacked me hard across the face; causing me to drop the bouquet onto the ground. "What the hell was that?" I said out-loud as I rubbed my hoof against my stinging cheek.

Just then, the mysterious force smacked against my other check. But because I didn't have all four of my legs on the ground, the force knocked me down.

After I got back up, I suddenly heard a dark caw and looked up to see an all too familiar face. It was the red eyed crow again, it was looking down at me from a lamp-post.

I gave it a sharp glare. "Oh not you again! Have you got a problem with me or something?" I yelled up to it.

The crow then spread out its wings before it shot down towards me. My eyes shot wide open as the crow flew passed and scratch me across the chest with its talons.

I let out a small yelp and held my hoof against my chest, I then removed my hoof to see three small scratches on my chest, they were each starting to bleed. And that wasn't all, the white under-shirt of my tuxedo now had three slashes on it.

After seeing this, I looked up at the crow that was flapping in mid-air. "That was my faverate suit, you little pest!" I yelled in anger.

The crow cawed darkly at me before it turned around and flew off into the city. "Oh no you don't, you're not getting away this time!" I yelled before I picked up my bouquet and flew after it.

I flapped my wings as hard as I could to keep up with the crow, it was surprisingly fast for such a small creature.

I chased the crow almost all over Canterlot. It was weird, I thought it would've tired-out by now. But no, it just kept going. While I was chasing it, I had to dodge fruit-stands, buildings, and lamp-posts to keep myself from crashing.

We soon entered the Canterlot Castle Gardens and I grew tired of this ridiculous chase. "That's it! Time to end this!" I muffled with the bouquet still in my mouth.

With that, I flapped my wings with all my strength to pick up speed, it wasn't long before my front hooves were just behind the crow's tail feathers.

But before I could grab it, the crow took a sudden turn and I crashed into a large tree.

I groaned in pain as I peeled off the tree's trunk and fell to the ground. After a few seconds, I opened my to see all the roses from my bouquet were now scattered on the ground, it must've broke went I crashed.

"Oh, perfect." I groaned before I rolled over onto my hooves and stood back up, I then started to look around to see if the crow was still here.

I took slow steps as I looked around the gardens, I didn't want to risk it coming out and attacking me again. The gardens soon became quiet…too quite.

"Why is it so quiet all-of-a-sudden?...I don't like where this is going, it's getting a bit creepy." I said under my breath as I continued to search for the crow.

After a few more minutes of searching, it didn't show up. I then decided to quit before I turned around and walked back towards my now destroyed bouquet, maybe some of the roses were still intact.

As I walked, I looked down at the scratches on my suit and frowned. "Dammit, this was my best suit… *Sigh* well maybe Rarity can fix it when I get back to Pony-AHHH!"

Something suddenly grabbed onto one of my hind-legs and hoisted me up in the air, I was now dangling upside-down from a lasso-rope tied to a tree-branch.

When I saw what had grabbed me, I felt so stupid knowing I was stuck in the oldest trap ever made. If Rainbow Dash saw me now, she'd laugh her head off. "Well…I must look pretty stupid right about now." I said.

I then tried to pull myself up to the branch to free my leg, but I soon lost my strength and dropped back down to my dangling position. I couldn't say I wasn't annoyed by everything that was happening. I mean with the crow, the dangerous chase, the crash, and now this. It was like my luck for today just ran-out.

As I felt the blood start to rush to my head, I let out an annoyed groan. "Grr, how'd this even happen? I mean seriously, what idiot would set a robe-trap in the middle of a bloody garden?" I said out-loud.

Suddenly, I heard the crow's dark caw again. I looked in the direction it came from to see it was standing on another branch that was pointing straight at my face. Step-by-step, it walked down the branch towards me.

"Oh, so you expect me to believe _you're_ the idiot? Don't make me laugh." I scoffed as it approached my upside-down head.

Then without warning, the crow grabbed my snout roughly with its claw before it pulled my face up against his, it glared sharply at me with its beaming red eyes. The moment was then silence…until. "_The fight's not over yet, runt._" The crow hissed with a male's voice.

My eyes widened with complete shock, the crow just spoke to me.

The crow then pushed my head away before he flew up to the branch I was hanging from. Once he landed on the branch, he smiled deviously down at me before he cut the robe with his talons.

As I fell from the high tree, I yelled loudly before I landed head-first on the hard ground. My ears rang before my world turned to black.

**Later: The suite**

"_Matt!...Matt!...Are you ok? Please wake up._"a familiar female voice said as I blinked my eyes open.

I soon saw two blurry figures looking down at me. When my vision cleared, I saw that it was Twilight and Blaze who were looking down at me, they each had a worried look on their faces.

I began to wonder why they were in the park before looked around to see I was actually back in the suite, I also noticed that I was lying on the bed.

"Matt, are you ok?" Twilight asked with a worried tone.

I turned my attention to. "Yeah, I think so." I answered weakly before I leaned up on the bed, I suddenly felt a throbbing pain in my head and moaned as I held my hoof against it.

"Easy there, Matt. You have a bad bump on your head, you were even unconscious when I found you." Blaze as he gently rested me back down.

I then gave him a confused look. "…Found me?.."

"After I got here, I waited for you to come back, but you didn't. I was getting really worried, so I sent Blaze out to find you." Twilight explained.

"I found you unconscious in the park, you looked pretty beat-up. You also had a piece of rope tied around your leg, don't worry, we got it off. But you looked as though you were attacked, did something happen?" Blaze asked.

At that moment, my eyes widened as I remembered everything that happened to me before I blacked-out. Twilight soon noticed my scared look. "Matt, what's wrong?" she asked in a concerned tone.

I looked at her with my eyes still wide. "This wasn't an accident…it did this to me..." I said.

"What did?" Blaze asked with a raised eye brow.

"The crow…the crow from yesterday…it…it set a trap and I fell into it…it did this to me." I said.

Twilight and Blaze then looked at each other before they looked at me again. "The crow did this?...Matt, I think that bump may have done more damage than we thought." Blaze stated.

I looked at him with a firm face. "What, you think I did this to myself?" I said before I looked down at my chest to see the three small scratches. "And how do you explain this?" I said while pointing at them.

Twilight saw the scratches before she looked closer at them, she examined them while rubbing her chin with her hoof. "Hmm…these do look like talon scratches, and they definitely match the ones you had on your face yesterday." She said.

"See!" I said to Blaze.

"Well if a crow did manage to do this, it must've flown away before I found you. Now, is there anything else you want me to do before I turn-in for the night?" Blaze asked.

Twilight turned to face him and shook her head. "No, we can take care of everything from here. You go get some rest, you deserve it." she said kindly.

Blaze smiled at her. "Thank you, Twilight." he said before he looked at me. "Goodnight, Matt. Be sure to get a lot of sleep tonight, you look exhausted." He said.

I nodded. "I will, goodnight, Blaze." I said.

Twilight and I then watched as Blaze walked over to the door and left the suite.

After he left, I went into deep thought about what happened tonight, including the fact that the crow actually spoke to me. Did this mean it can do the same things Jeff can? How many talking birds are there in Equestria? I only knew one thing, that crow definitely wants to cause trouble.

"Matt, is something wrong?" Twilight said.

I snapped out of my thoughts before I looked at her. "Huh?...oh…yeah, I was just remembering something that happened." I answered.

"What is it?" Twilight asked curiously.

I didn't know how to tell her, I didn't even know why I felt so worried about it. The crow only talked, we listen to Jeff and Peewee talk all the time…But the thing he said, the way he called me the same name Thorn called me, it just didn't feel right and I didn't want to worry Twilight.

But I could never keep something like this from her, not if it truly involves Thorn. "Well…you're not going to believe this but…the crow spoke to me." I stated.

"W-What?" Twilight said with a confused look on her face.

"The crow…it spoke, just like Jeff and Peewee can." I said as I leaned up on the bed again.

"So how's that scary?" Twilight asked still looking confused.

My ears lowered slightly as I prepared to tell her the bad part. "He said…_the fight wasn't over_, and then he called me a runt." I answered.

Twilight's confused look then faded away. "You mean…the same name Thorn use to call you?" she said before I nodded to her.

"You don't think this has anything to do with him, do you?" Twilight asked.

I let out a loud sigh. "I hope not, the last thing we need is to go through that hell again." I said as I lied back down on the bed.

"Or to be reminded of it, so let's try and forget the subject, ok?" Twilight said.

I gave her a comforting smile as I placed my hoof on top hers. "Ok, Twi. Sorry if I'm starting to cause problems."

Twilight smiled back and chuckled. "Haha, it wouldn't be the first time." She joked.

We both shared a laugh at what she said before I noticed something, I wasn't wearing my tuxedo anymore. "Hey, what happened to my tux?" I asked as I looked down at my flat body.

"I took it off you while you were unconscious, I thought it would make you more comfortable. And there's some bad news about it." Twilight said before her horn glowed and my slightly ripped tuxedo hovered up beside her.

"Rarity's gonna have some work to do when we get back to Ponyville." Twilight joked.

I chuckled slightly before Twilight placed the tuxedo down on a chair next to the bed. But when her magic grip released it, something fell out of the bottom.

Twilight looked down at whatever it was before she picked it up with her magic, I was then surprised to see it was one of the roses from the bouquet I bought for Twilight. However, it was slightly bent and most of its petals were missing.

"Why is there a rose in your suit?" Twilight asked while staring at the rose.

"Oh…well…that was the errand I had to run, I bought you a whole bouquet of roses to make our special night seem more romantic. But it got ruined during the whole crow thing, sorry" I apologized.

After hearing this, Twilight looked at me with a sweet smile. "Matt, that was so sweet of you. But don't be sorry, this rose is perfect." She stated.

"But…it's broken." I said while pointing at the rose.

"…As long as it was from you, it doesn't matter." Twilight said sweetly before we shared a small kiss.

But for some reason, Twilight's smile suddenly turned into a frown. "But about our special night…I think we may have to postpone it again." she said.

"What? Why?" I asked.

Twilight gave me a look of sorrow. "Trust me, I want to do it as much as you do. But after what happened, I don't think you're in any condition to do anything like that." She explained.

I waved my hoof. "What're you talking about? I feel fine, we can sti-ohhhh." I groaned as I felt the throbbing in my head again.

"See, you need to get a lot of rest tonight. I'm sorry, Matt, but we'll just have to wait a little while longer." She said before she pulled the covers over me with her magic.

I didn't want to argue, so I let out a disappointed sight. "Alright." I said with my ears down.

Twilight then walked over to a table with a small vase on it before she placed the rose inside it, she smiled at how it looked. "There, now it's in a nice little spot where I can always see it, it even has some water to help it feel better. Speaking of which, I could use a drink myself." She stated.

Twilight turned around to face me. "Do you want some too? It could help your head feel better." She said with a kind smile.

"Yes, please." I answered politely before Twilight walked into the suite's kitchen.

All the while, I still couldn't believe our special night was cancelled again. All thoughts of the talking crow had now left my mind, I didn't even care about it anymore.

All I could do now was lie on the bed while looking up at the ceiling. "Thanks a lot, Pony God." I said under my breath before I crossed my arms and waited for Twilight.

While I was waiting, I thought about the things Twilight whispered into my ear before the date and how weren't gonna do them tonight. However, we still had a few more days before we go back to Ponyville.

So who knows, maybe we'll get lucky.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Again, sorry for the long wait. Like I said, I've been feeling a bit out of it lately. But maybe a good strong review will help me get some spirit back. Trust me, I'm not gonna quit.**

**The song I used in this chapter is called "**_**I won't say I'm in love**_**" from the cartoon Disney movie "**_**Hercules**_**". I don't own anything.**

**Pony News: this is about the fan-game **_**Fighting Is Magic**_**.**

**Apparently, **_**Lauren Faust**_** herself is helping the makers create the game. Either that, or she's helping them turn it into something else due to the Cease-and-Desist order they got from Hasbro.**

**In other news, the show's Season 2 DVD will be '**_**hitting stores**_**' on May the 14****th****. It will be available on Amazon.**

**Poll: Some of you might be asking this question "**_**What would happen if Matt visited his family in the Human World and Twilight and her friends went with him?**_**" Well, we might find out. **

**If you want Matt, Twilight and the others to go to the Human World, go to my profile and vote now, here are the options.**

**1: **_**I want to see them go to the Human World**_

**2: **_**Leave them in Equestria**_

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon. **


	44. Chapter 44: Return to Ponyville

**Hey everypony, I have really bad news.**

**For those who know the author '**_**Biggmamma46**_**', I'm sorry to say that she died recently from a heart-attack.**

**I cried when her fiancé, **_**ShiningShadow1965**_**, told me this news, she was such a kind and lovely woman. So I've decided to dedicate this chapter to her memory.**

**I really hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 44: Return to Ponyville

After spending 2 weeks away on our honeymoon, Twilight and I were finally going home to Ponyville. To be honest, we couldn't wait to be back at the library with all our friends, we were starting to feel a bit home-sick.

There was some good news, more good news, and bad news about the last days of our honeymoon.

First the good news, the crow that attacked me hasn't reared its ugly head since our double-date with Celestia and Discord.

The extra good news, Twilight managed to heal the scratches on my chest with her Healing Spell.

And finally the bad news, there were so many distractions that we didn't have our _special night_, this really disappointed me. But I didn't make a big fuss over it, the last thing I wanted to do was upset Twilight when our honeymoon was so close to ending.

**Skies above Ponyville**

Instead of riding in the carriage that took us up to Canterlot, Twilight and I were riding in a golden chariot pulled by two Pegasi guards.

Surprisingly, there was enough room in the chariot to place our luggage in. Our suitcases sat neatly behind us as we enjoyed the ride.

As we soured through the blue sky, Twilight and I looked down from the chariot to see Ponyville right below us. It wouldn't be long before we start to lower down, no doubt they'll land in front of the library.

After a few minutes, the guards started to fly lower and lower until we were just above the streets of Ponyville. They soon came to a soft landing in front of the library, just as I thought they would.

Once we came to a full stop, Twilight and I grabbed our luggage with our mouths before we hopped off the chariot; leaving it empty.

We then placed our suitcases down on the ground before Twilight trotted over to the guards, they both looked at her as she stopped beside them. "Thank you, sirs." She said politely.

The two guards nodded before they looked forward and galloped away from us; taking the chariot along with them. We both watched as the guards took off into the air and flew the chariot back up towards Canterlot.

Once they were out of sight, Twilight came back over to me before we turned our attention to the library. It felt so good to be home, no fancy ponies, no big buildings, just our normal library in our normal village.

Twilight and I then picked up our suitcases before we made our way towards the front door. Once we reached it, I pushed the door open with my hoof and walked inside with Twilight beside me.

Once inside, we looked around the living-room to see no-one was here. Ether they were out, or they were in some other part of the library. I placed my suitcase down on the floor before I spoke. "Hello? Anypony here?" I called.

After a few silent seconds, Shining Armor appeared at the top of the stairs. Once he saw us, he smiled with delight. "Twily, Matt, when'd you two get back?" he asked as he made his way down the stairs.

Twilight placed her suitcase down before she spoke. "We just got back this minute." She said with a smile.

After Shining Armor got down the stairs, he walked over to us and hugged Twilight lovingly, she hugged him back. "It's so good to see you again." he said.

Twilight and Shining Armor then separated before they looked at each other. "How was your honeymoon?" he asked.

"It was great. Not only did the Princess give us a nice suite, but she let us spend time at the Canterlot Pool-side. It was like we were on vacation." Twilight answered.

"And let's not forget Blaze Horn, he was a great help most of the time." I added.

The moment he heard that name, Shining Armor looked at me with a surprised look. "Blaze Horn? What's he got to do with this?" he asked.

"The Princess assigned him to aid and protect us while we were on our honeymoon. And let me tell you this, he doesn't fool around when it comes to his job. Sure, he has the same personality as you, but he's not the type that relaxes very much." I stated.

Shining Armor then smiled with amusement. "Let me guess, he was all like '_I'm have a job to do, so I can't afford any distractions or anything else that involves having fun_'." He said while putting on his best Blaze Horn voice.

I chuckled at what he said. "Haha, yep, that Blaze alright. Haha, good impersonation by-the-way." I complimented.

"Thanks." Shining Armor said before he came a bit closer to me. "So, err…did you and Twily…you know, _shake the Earth_?" she asked with a big smirk on his face.

I was confused for a moment before I realized what he meant, I then blushed deeply from embarrassment. "Oh…well…no, we didn't. There were so many distractions and stuff like that." I said.

Despite hearing this, Shining Armor's smirk didn't leave his face. "Ah, don't worry too much. You'll get around to it eventually. Trust me, Twily isn't the type who gives up so easily."

I then gave him an amused smile. "Believe me, I know." I said before my smile faded away. "I just feel as though we're delaying it for too long. I mean, what if-"

"What're you two talking about?" Twilight asked; interrupting me.

We both quickly looked at her. "Nothing." We answered at the same time.

Twilight gave us a slightly suspicious look, but before she could speak her suspicions. "Twilight! Matt! You're back." A voice cheered.

We all looked in the direction the voice came from to see Spike running towards us with a large smile on his face. The moment Spike reached us, he leaped up to Twilight and hugging her tightly. Twilight couldn't help but smile and hugged him back with one arm.

After a few minutes, they separated before Spike came over to me. "Man, I've missed you guys." He said as he hugged my chest.

I wrapped my arm around Spike and hugged him back. "We've missed you too, little bro." I said sweetly while still hugging him.

Once Spike and I separated, Shining Armor spoke. "Well, my job's done here, so I think I'll just let you guys settled." He stated before he made his way towards the front-door.

But as he approached the door, Twilight suddenly stopped him by standing in front of him. "Wait, you don't have to leave right now. You can stay for a while longer if you want to." She said.

Shining Armor gave her an understanding smile. "I appreciate the offer, but I should really get back to Canterlot and continue my duties. Besides, the Princess only allowed me to stay here until you got back. If I stay any longer, I might get in trouble." He explained.

Deep down, Twilight understood what he meant. "Ok, I understand. Do you want me to call the chariot back to pick you up?" she asked.

Shining Armor raised his hoof up. "No need, I'll take train. Thanks though." He said with a thankful smile.

Twilight smiled back before they hugged again. "Thanks for taking care of everything, Shining Armor. I love you." she said sweetly.

"I love you too, Twily." Shining Armor responded, Spike and I smiled as they held each other in a loving hug.

They both then separated before Shining Armor looked over to me. "Look after yourself, Matt." he said with a slight smirk.

I smirked back. "I'll try, thanks again for looking after thing." I said kindly.

"You're welcome." Shining Armor said before he walked around Twilight and then over to the door.

Once he reached the door, Shining Armor turned around to look at us. "Don't worry, we'll see each other again." he stated.

"We know, goodbye, Shining Armor." Twilight said with a small smile on her face.

"See ya, Twily." Shining Amor said before he opened the door with his magic, he then walked out of the library and the door closing behind him.

Once he was gone, Twilight came back over to us. However, she looked a bit upset. I knew this was because she wanted Shining Armor to stay a bit longer.

I didn't like to see Twilight upset, so I tried to help her feel better. I placed my hoof on her shoulder before she saw the kind smile I was giving her. "It's ok, Twi. We'll see him again. If you want, we'll go see him sometimes." I said.

Twilight's small frown was then replaced with a thankful smile. "Really?...Thanks, Matt. I'd like that." She said.

After that was done, Twilight looked down at Spike. "So anyway, Spike. How were things while we were away?" she asked curiously.

"Well you know, just as normal as usual. I did my daily chores, helped out around town, and just the same old stuff." Spike stated.

"Were things still crazy around here?" I said with an amused smile.

Spike looked at me with an honest smile. "Actually, things have been kinda calm since you guys left." He stated.

My amused smile then went away. "Even with Pinkie Pie?" I asked with a raised eye brow.

"Well…not _completely_ calm." Spike said as he rubbed his chin. "Oh, that reminds me. She left a note for you a few days ago, I'll go get it." he said before he rushed up the stairs.

While we waited for Spike to return, we heard a door suddenly slam open. We both turned around to it to see Jeff storm out with Owlicious hovering behind him. "Would you stop followin' me! It's bad enough I have to listen to you!" Jeff said in an annoyed tone.

"Hoo." Owlicious hooted.

Jeff quickly spun around to him. "YOU! It's bad enough I have to listen to YOU!" He yelled.

"Hoo." Owlicious hooted again.

Jeff's left-eye twitched a bit before he groaned loudly. "GRR! Just get outta here, will ya!" he said loudly.

Owlicious obeyed by flying into kitchen, Jeff was grunting with steamed annoyance. "Jeez, if I hear him say that word one more time, I'm gonna grab him and-" he stopped in his sentence once he noticed us looking down at him.

Jeff was silent before he formed a fake smile. "Give him a big hug…I love that owl, so full of character." He finished.

Twilight and I weren't convinced, we just stared down at him with firm looks. Jeff continued to smile largely before he laughed nervously. "Haha…so…When'd you guys get back?" he asked.

"Just now, actually." Twilight answered with the firm look still on her face.

The large nervous smile didn't leave Jeff's face. "Oh really? Wow, it feels like you left only yesterday, how time flies." He said as he slowly made his way towards the kitchen. "Peewee and Owlicious are in the kitchen so, err…I'll just, err…let them know you're here…bye." He then shot into the kitchen; leaving me and Twilight alone in the room.

After a few minutes, Spike came back down with an envelope in his right-hand. "Here it is, I've been keeping it safe since Pinkie Pie gave it to me." he said as he held it up to us.

We both looked at the letter before Twilight picked it up with her magic, she open the envelope and pulled the letter out.

Once it was out, Twilight unfolded it and started to read it out-loud for us to hear.

"_Dear Twilight and Mattie_

_For the last few days, I've been coming over to your house to see if you were back yet. But Spike told me that you wouldn't be back for a few days, so I decided to write this letter for you._

_When you get this letter, come over to Sugar Cube Corner, I have a surprise for both of you._

_P.S. Spike and the others can come too._

_Love, Pinkie Pie."_

After Twilight finished reading the letter, we both looked at each other. "I wonder what Pinkie Pie wants us there for?." I said.

"Pinkie Pie wasn't making it up, you know. You wouldn't believe how many times she came over to ask if you were back yet, it was like three times a day." Spike stated with his arms crossed.

"Well obviously she wants us to go there for some reason, so I think we should." Twilight said as she gave the letter back to Spike.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think so too. And who knows, maybe she's asked everyone else to go there, it'll be nice to see them all again." I said.

Twilight smiled. "Great, we'll head over there once we finish unpacking." She declared before she picked the suitcases up with her magic.

Twilight and I then walked up the stairs to go to our room and unpack, Spike came up with us to help.

**Later: Sugar Cube Corner**

After unpacking all our belongings, we all headed out to Sugar Cube Corner to see what Pinkie Pie had for us.

While Spike was walking beside us, Jeff and Peewee were riding on my back. Owlicious was riding quietly on Twilight's back, which pleased Jeff.

On the way, I decided to start a conversation. "So what do you think Pinkie Pie's got planned for us?" I asked while looking at Twilight.

Twilight turned her head to face me. "Well if I know Pinkie Pie, which I do, it'll probably be a party." She stated.

"That _would_ make a lot of sense, seeing how throwing parties is Pinkie Pie's special talent, not to mention her faverate joy in life." I said.

Just then, Spike looked up at me with a confused look. "I thought Pinkie's faverate joy in life was swimming in a river of chocolate." He said.

I looked down at him. "Nah, that's probably her faverate _fantasy_." I stated.

As we kept discussing about Pinkie's random and bizarre activities, Jeff soon lost his patients and spoke. "Oh for the love of Celestia, can we just get there already?!" he said loudly.

I turned my head around to face him. "Ok, we'll be quiet." I said before I turned my head back around. "Wow, someone's been rattling _your_ cage." I said.

"Yeah, I wonder who that could be." Jeff said sarcastically before he glared over to Owlicious.

From there, we all kept quiet as we continued to walk.

It wasn't long before we finally arrived at Sugar Cube Corner. As we approached the front-door, Twilight looked at me. "You ready?" she asked.

I turned my head to face her and nodded. "Yep." I responded before we turned our attention to the door.

I placed my hoof on it and pushed it open; revealing nothing but darkness inside.

We all walked slowly inside before the lights suddenly flicked on. "SURPRISE!" Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy cheered as they jumped out of their hiding spots.

Once the lights came on, we all looked around to see the whole room was covered in party decorations. Balloons were floating from the tables, confetti was all over the floor, and there was a banner on the ceiling that said '_Welcome Home_', it was now clear that this was a welcome home party.

Before Twilight and I could react, Pinkie Pie shot up and hugged both of us tightly. "Twilight, Mattie, I'm so glad you're finally home, I missed you so much." She said with a large smile.

Twilight and I found it hard to breath in Pinkie's tight hug. "We…missed you too…Pinkie…" I managed to say while struggling for air.

Pinkie Pie then released us and we took deep breaths to get some air. After we caught our breath, we looked at the others. "What is all this?" Twilight asked.

"It's a welcome home party, dah." Rainbow Dash stated while hovering in mid-air.

"A little something we decided to throw for the happy couple." Rarity added with a kind smile.

"Were you surprised? Were you? huh, huh, huh?" Pinkie Pie asked as she hopped up and down on the spot.

Twilight and I smiled at her. "Yeah we were, but you didn't need to go through all this trouble for us." I said.

Pinkie waved her hoof. "Don't be silly, silly. It wasn't any trouble at all, I love throwing parties when the chance comes up. Besides, we had to do something to welcome you back." She explained.

Twilight gave her a thankful smile. "Well that was very nice of you, Pinkie. And everything looks great, you've out-done yourself once again." she stated.

"She sure has." Applejack said as she came over to us. "And we all can't wait to hear how your honeymoon went, did anything exciting happen?" she asked curiously.

"And by exciting, we mean _really_ exciting." Rainbow Dash said with a smirk on her face.

Twilight and I were confused before we realised what she meant, we started muttering as we tried to think of something to say. We didn't know what to tell her, Twilight and I didn't _do it_ while we were gone.

But luck was on our side when Rarity grabbed Rainbow's tail and pulled her down to the floor. "Now, now, Rainbow Dash. Whatever Twilight and Matthew did in their…*clears throat*…_personal_ time, is none of our business." She said firmly.

Rainbow Dash sighed as she crossed her arms. "Okay." She said before she came closer to us. "We'll talk later." She whispered without Rarity noticing.

Twilight and I blushed slightly before we tried to change the subject. "Err…well there'll be plenty of time to talk during the party…which still needs to start." I said.

"Then what're we waitin' for?" Applejack said before she walked over to a gramophone on a table. "Lets get this here party started." She then gave the table a small kick; causing the gramophone to turn on.

As the music began to play, we all walked further into the room to start the party.

Half-an-hour later, we all had a warm reunion and everyone was now in different parts of the room partaking in different activities.

Twilight, Rarity, and Fluttershy were dancing to the music the gramophone was playing.

Pinkie Pie was in the kitchen cook refreshments.

Spike, Jeff, Peewee, and Owlicious were dunking for apples, which also had other things inside like a ball on a spring. Jeff fell for that trick twice already.

And I was talking to Rainbow Dash and Applejack. I had already told them that Twilight and I didn't _do it _on our honeymoon, which amused Rainbow Dash a bit.

"So let me get this straight. You had three weeks alone with Twilight, but you didn't do it with her?" Rainbow Dash asked while holding back laughter.

"Well…no, not really." I said with a sheepish smile.

At that moment, Rainbow Dash burst out laughing. She was laughing so much, I thought she was gonna fall to the floor. She then stopped when Applejack took a step forward. "It's not that funny, Rainbow. They probably just didn't have the time." She said.

"Or maybe one of them is trying to avoid it. Right, Matt?" Rainbow Dash said as she looked at me.

I quickly shook my head. "No, I do want to do it with her. I mean, I wouldn't mind to. I mean…oh dammit." I said while looking down at the floor.

Applejack then placed her hoof on my back. "Don't pay any attention to her, Matt. You and Twi will do it eventually, just give her time and she'll tell you when she's ready." She said trying to be helpful.

I looked at her and gave her a thankful smile. "Ok, thanks, Applejack." I said before I decided to change the subject. "So…how's Applebloom these days?" I asked.

Applejack removed her hoof from my back before she answered. "She's fine, she's still tryin' to earn her cutie mark with her friends. Honestly, when are those fillies gonna learn that ya can't force something like that?" she said with a slightly amused smile.

I just shrugged. "I have no idea. Has she ever mentioned me?" I asked curiously.

"She's mentions ya a few times, mostly askin' if you were back yet. If ya wanna see her, you can always come to _Apple Cleanin' Day_." Applejack suggested.

"What's Apple Cleaning Day?" I asked in confusion.

"It's the time of the year when we all clean things up around the farm, we clean the barn, the animal pens, even the animals themselves. We also tend to do a little extra apple-buckin' for the harvest, ya'all welcome to come if ya want." Applejack said.

I then thought about it for a moment. It would be nice to see Applebloom and the rest of the Apple Family again, and I haven't really spent much time on the farm for a while. I didn't see any harm in it so I nodded. "Sure, that sounds good. But don't tell Applebloom I'm back yet, I want to surprise her." I said.

"Sure thing, Matt. And don't worry about your delivery job. Once Cleanin' Day's over, I'll tell Big Mac to give it back to ya." Applejack stated.

"Thanks." I said with another thankful smile.

"Well you might still work hard, but I bet you can't fly as hard as you once did." Rainbow Dash said with a large smirk on her face.

I then turned my head to face her with a raised eye brow. "Meaning?"

"Well when was the last time you flew in a race? You've probably lost your touch by now, even though you didn't have one to begin with." Rainbow Dash said with a grin growing on her face.

I knew she was just saying these things to provoke me, she was trying to get me to challenge her to a race. Well, who am I to disappoint? "So you think I'm not fast anymore, huh? Well maybe we see about that?" I said while grinning as well.

Once I said that, Rainbow Dash gave me her full attention. "What'd you have in mind?" she asked.

"I challenge you to a race around both Ponyville and Canterlot, first one to reach your place wins." I said as I held my hoof out to her.

Rainbow Dash wasted no time in grabbing my hoof with hers and shaking it up and down. "You're on, so when does this race start?" she asked.

"Tomorrow, on the clouds above Fluttershy's house, I'll fill in the details then." I explained.

"Deal." Rainbow Dash said before she released my hoof. "Enjoy the party as much as you can, because you're going down tomorrow." She said with devious grin.

"We'll see about that." I said while grinning back.

"…Why do I see no good comin' from this?..." Applejack asked herself while watching us grin deviously at each other.

After that, we all went back to enjoying the party. But all though the evening, I was trying to think of ways to beat Rainbow Dash in the race tomorrow.

**The next day: Clouds above Fluttershy's cottage**

Just as we said, Rainbow Dash and I were standing on one of the clouds above Fluttershy's cottage. We told Fluttershy what we were doing and now she was watching us from her garden. "Yay." She said in her quiet voice.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash and I were stretching our wings to help them move better. "So, what's the track?" Rainbow asked.

I turned my head to face her. "We take off from here, fly through the town, up into the clouds, through Canterlot, back down to Ponyville, and up to your cloud house. No short cuts and no cheating, got it?" I said.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. All you need to worry about is keeping up, because I'm giving this race all I got." Rainbow Dash said as she crouched down in a starting position.

"Huh, that won't be much." I joked as I got in the same position as her.

Rainbow Dash then shot her head to me. "HAY!" she said in a loud offended tone, I only snickered before we waited for the starting signal.

As we continued to wait, I suddenly heard the sound of a propeller growing louder by the second. But Equestria didn't have helicopters, so I wondered where the sound was coming from. Eventually, I got my answer.

Rainbow Dash's pet tortoise, _Tank_, rose up in front of us with his helicopter-rotor strapped to his back. He was holding a checkered-flag in his mouth.

Rainbow and I watched as Tank slowly lifted his head up and waved the flag; telling us to go.

The moment that happened, Rainbow and I shot passed Tank; causing him to spin around fast before stopping in a dizzy daze, he soon shook it off and lowered back down to the ground.

Meanwhile, Rainbow and I were flying as fast as we could go. We were both flying side-by-side while trying to take over the other, it wasn't long before we could see Ponyville up ahead.

As we entered the streets, we made sure to fly high above the ground so we wouldn't crash into anything or anyone.

Rainbow Dash slowly overtook me and was now in the lead. As we flew further through the streets, Rainbow Dash saw fruit-stand with tomatoes on it, she then gained a devious plan.

When she shot past it, Rainbow grabbed a few tomatoes and left some bits in their places. I watched in surprise as Rainbow began to fly backwards and throw the tomatoes straight at me.

I was quick to dodge the incoming tomatoes before I continued to fly after Rainbow Dash. "Hey! I said no cheating!" I yelled loud enough for Rainbow to hear.

"I wasn't aiming for you." She yelled back as she continued to fly backwards.

"Well it doesn't matter who you were aiming at, the important thing is to keep your eyes on the road." I called as I saw a building coming up behind Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash was confused by what I said. "Huh? What the hay does that me-UNF!" she was cut off when she flew back-first into the building; allowing me to pass her.

"Yeah, that." I said as I flew by.

Rainbow Dash quickly pushed herself off the wall before she shot after me.

We soon came up to the Town Hall, where we would pull-up into the sky and fly up towards Canterlot. Luckily, I was still in the lead while Rainbow was flying behind me.

Rainbow Dash grunted as she pushed herself to the limit and flew slightly faster, eventually she caught up with me.

As we came close to the Town Hall, Rainbow and I quickly pulled-up to avoid crashing into the building. We flew straight up from the town and into the clouds above.

Rainbow and I began to dodge think clouds as we shot past them, we both knew it would slow us down if we crashed into any of them.

I looked over to Rainbow Dash to see she was dodging clouds like crazy. "So Rainbow, how are you…WHOW!...doing? I said as I quickly dodged a cloud.

Rainbow Dash didn't keep her eyes off where she was going. "Just fine, Matt…are you starting to…tire out?" she asked as she dodged a few clouds.

"Not a chance." I said strongly before I flapped my wings faster; forcing me to shoot off into the lead. Rainbow Dash let out a small grunt before she did the same to catch up.

We eventually reached Canterlot, I was still in the lead with Rainbow Dash coming up behind me. However, she was coming up slowly, so I felt confident about this race.

I kept flying as I turned my head around to look back at Rainbow. "So Rainbow, are you slowing down yet?" I asked with a smirk on my face.

Rainbow Dash gave me a small glare before she grinned. "Nope, but it looks like _you'll_ be in a minute." She called.

I was confused before I turned around and gasped at what I saw, I was flying right towards a thick cloud. I didn't have time to turn before I shot straight into it.

While stuck inside the cloud's fluff, I heard Rainbow Dash laugh as she flew past me.

But I wasn't done yet, I quickly dug through the cloud before I popped out of the other end. I looked up to see Rainbow Dash flying in the distance and I shot up after her.

**Canterlot streets**

By the time we reached Canterlot, I was flying beside Rainbow Dash as we fought to take the lead. Sometimes Rainbow would ram into me, sometimes I'd ram into her. But we didn't take it personally, it was just for fun.

We did the same as we did in Ponyville, we flew high above the streets so we wouldn't hurt ourselves. Most of the Canterlot ponies watched us fly over their heads, their surprised looks soon turn into disapproving ones.

But we took no notice of them, all we cared about was the race, one that we were both determined to win.

A few minutes later, Rainbow Dash and I flew out of the city and into what looked like the Canterlot Sculpture Gardens. However, we both decided to make this one a little more dangerous.

Instead of flying over the statues, we lowered ourselves down until we were flying through them. Just like we did with the clouds, we dodged every one that was in our path.

But the more statues I dodged, the more I began to regret this idea. The moment my path was clear of statues, I looked over to Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, I think we've taken this a bit too far now. Maybe we should pull-up to the sky where it's safer." I said loud enough for her to hear.

Rainbow Dash then turned her head to face me. Surprisingly, she looked as though she shared my concerns. "Yeah, maybe we bit off a little more than we can…*GASP*, Matt! Look out!" she yelled while pointing to something up a head.

I quickly looked forward and gasped in horror, I was flying straight towards one of the bush-walls of the garden's labyrinth. Before I could crash into it, I quickly pulled up and flew over it.

However, I wasn't quick enough and my body brushed against the top of the bush; causing my flight-pattern to go off-course.

I struggled to regain control of my flying, I bobbed up & down and shifted left & right as my head started to spin. I could feel it deep inside, I wasn't gonna regain control in time, I was gonna crash.

As I kept flying in a wobbly style, I passed over the Sculpture Gardens and was now heading towards what looked like a gloomy old tower with a water-wheel attached to the left-side of it.

While flying above the tower, I eventually lost whatever bit of control I had left and plummeted down to its tailed roof.

I yelled loudly before I smashed through the roof and landed on a hard wooden floor within the tower, I coughed as a thick cloud of dust filled the air.

Outside, Rainbow Dash witnessed the whole thing before she dashed to the rescue. However, the dust cloud was too much for her to fly through and she remained outside. "Matt?...Matt? Are you ok?" she called.

I heard her calls and slowly opened my eyes to see nothing but the light-beam shining down through the hole I made, I groaned as I leaned up off the floor.

"Yeah, I'm fi-" My sentence was cut short by a piece of wood falling on top my head. "Never mind." I said in a daze.

I then shook it off before I looked around the room I was in, it looked like an old study room. There were book shelves with dusty books, a wooden table near a stained-class window, and a large pair of wooden double-doors that led out to a stone balcony outside.

"Matt? What's going on down there? Why won't you come out?" Rainbow Dash's voice called from outside.

I then looked up at the large hole to answer her. "I'll be up in a minute, I'm just checking things out." I answered before I went back to examining the room.

As my sight got use to the darkness, I began to see the room more clearly. There were many broken and scattered things on the wooden floor, it was a sign of some sort of struggle. But seeing how dusty and old the room looked, this fight must've happened many years ago.

When I looked over to the table near the window, I saw a few strange looking things on it. It all caught my interest and I slowly made my way over to it.

As I got closer, I suddenly heard what sounded like glass breaking beneath my hoof. I looked down to see I had stood on a pair of broken reading-glasses, I wondered who owned them before I shook the thought off and kept walking.

Once I reached the table, I looked around at it too see a lot of things. There was a pile of books on the right-side, a half-melted candle on the left-side, and a strange black book lying right in front of me.

I soon forgot about everything else and gave the book my full attention. It didn't have a title or anything that symbolised a story book, so it must be something else.

Curiosity soon got the better of me and I sat down in front of the table, I then opened the book with my hoof and began to read the inked writing inside it.

"_Words of an Alicorn – page 1_

_This is my first day of writing in this book, and I assure you, there will be more. _

_The winds are growing colder and the plants are slowly dying, I feel winter is on the way. And yet, everyday feels cold in this cursed tower._

_But I must remain here for my own safety. If I leave this tower, if I even step outside, everypony will look at me as nothing more than a monster, and I would disappoint the one pony who truly cares for me."_

After reading that, I soon figured out what type of book this was. It was a journal, a journal of someone's history. And from what I just read, an _interesting_ history. "Whow, this is a keeper." I said.

"Matt? Where are you? I'm starting to get really bored." Rainbow Dash's voice called again.

I decided that I had kept her waiting long enough and flew up out of the tower, but not without taking the book along with me. Once outside, I flew up to Rainbow Dash before she noticed the book in my hooves. "Err, what's that?" she asked while pointing at it.

I looked down at the book before I looked back up at her. "This? It's just an old book I found in there." I answered.

Rainbow Dash gave me a confused look. "So how come you took it?" she asked.

"No reason, I just thought it would be a good book to read tonight." I answered.

"But you live in a library, you have a whole load of books." Rainbow Dash stated with a raised eye brow.

I didn't know what else to say, so I tried to change the subject. "Urr…hey, I almost forgot, we're still in a race." I said.

Rainbow Dash instantly forgot about the book and smiled. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that." He said before her smile turned devious. "So you thought you could distract me with that book thing, huh? Well think again." she said before she shot past me.

I turned around to see her fly off into the distance, I then let out a calm exhale before I shot off after her. I didn't want to tell Rainbow Dash about the journal because I thought it would be best to keep it a secret, for now anyway.

**That night: Ponyville library**

After once again losing a race against Rainbow Dash, I returned to library and spent the rest of the day with Twilight. While she wasn't looking, I hid the journal in one of the guest room bookshelves.

When night-time fell, everyone went asleep in their beds, everyone except me.

I was lying in the bed while looking up at the ceiling. I couldn't sleep due to the thoughts rushing through my mind, even the sound of Twilight's gentle snoozing couldn't relax me.

All my thoughts were about the journal, what was that pony talking about? If he even was a pony, he could've very well been a dragon for all I know. I knew so little about it and I wanted to know more.

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore and decided to get some answers. "I have to know." I said before I rolled out of the bed, carefully trying not to wake Twilight up.

I then tip-hooved around the bed and made my way into the guest room, I slowly closed the door behind me before I walked over to the bookshelf where I hid the journal.

I hid it on one of the high shelves so it would be harder for anyone to find it.

Once I reached it, I climbed up the bookshelf-ladder and found the journal pushed between two thick books. I then grabbed it with my mouth before I pulled it out and climbed back down to the floor.

After I got down, I walked over to the desk before I placed the journal down and turned the table-lamp on; allowing me to see it better.

Once I sat down in front of the desk, I open the journal with my hoof and began to read the next page.

"_Words of an Alicorn – page 2_

_It has been over a week since my last log and I was correct, winter is here and the lands are now covered in a thick blanket of snow._

_I can hear them, the young ponies of Canterlot playing outside. Oh, how I long to join them, to feel the coldness of the snow beneath my hooves…but…my Father forbids it, he says the world is not yet ready to know of my existence._

_However, he has said that for as long as I can remember. At this point, it seems as though the world will never be ready. What makes me different from everypony else? Is it because I have wings and a horn? Am I nothing more than a mere freak?_

_One day…one day I will prove my Father wrong, one day I will walk amongst other ponies with pride. And if Canterlot will not accept me, maybe somewhere else will. I believe my Father tried to convince me that there are no other cities out there, but I am no fool. _

_As long as I am out of this tower for good, I do not care where I go._

_~Grimerd~." _

The moment I read that name, I gasped louder than I intended to. I quickly covered my mouth with my hoof, afraid that my gasp may have woken Twilight.

I listened carefully to hear Twilight's snoozing; telling me she was still asleep.

I exhaled in relief before I looked down at the journal. "Grimerd?...This journal belonged to Grimerd?" I said to myself.

From what I read, Grimerd must've written this before he turned evil, before he even met Celestia. But that didn't matter, these were still words written by a dark soul.

I wasted no time on closing the journal and flying it back up to its hiding spot. After I put the book back, I quickly left the guest room and gently got back into bed with Twilight.

I rested my head on the pillow and tried to clear my mind, but I must've bounced the bed a bit because Twilight slowly woke up. "Matt?...Are you still awake?" she asked in a tired tone with her head still on the pillow.

Even though I was facing the other way, I still answered. "Yeah, sorry. I…errr…couldn't sleep so I tried to read a book, but I'm tired now so I'll go sleep." I whispered.

Twilight let out a small yawn. "Ok, sweetie." She said before she closed her eyes. "What kind of book did you read?" she asked while slowly drifting back to sleep.

"…A scary one." I answered with a scared look in my eyes.

"*Yawn*…That's nice." Twilight said, she must've been too tired to hear what I said clear enough.

When I heard her gentle snoozing gain, I rolled over in the bed to see Twilight sleeping, I smiled warmly at her. "Goodnight, Twi." I whispered.

After receiving a small hum from Twilight, I closed my eyes to let myself fall to sleep. However, I was still shook up by my discovery, and knowing it was in the next room just freaked me out even more.

At this point, I was afraid that I would have another nightmare tonight. All I could do was hope I wouldn't.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

_**Dana Mullins (Biggmamma46) Age 49, 1963 – 2013.**_

**Dana, we'll miss you very much. T~T**

**Ok, the votes for the poll are in. 16 people want them to visit the Human World, 7 people want them to stay in Equestria. Guess we have a winner.**

**But to those who are worried about this, don't be. Matt and the others won't stay in the Human World, they're just staying for a few days then they'll go back to Equestria. It's all under control, trust me.**

_**Pony News**_**: Meghan McCarthy has revealed some news about Season 4, not big news, but still news.**

**1: **_**Cool things planned for the CMC.**_

**2:**_** Season 4 will keep fans happy after the Alicorn Twilight thing.**_

**3:**_** Rarity will be a central character again.**_

**4:**_** Spike will get some awesome/love moments.**_

**5: **_**Fluttershy will be the main focus in more episodes**_**.**

**6: **_**Big musical numbers planned**_**.**

**7: **_**New characters will be introduced**_**.**

**8: **_**Slice-of-Life episodes.**_** (Whatever that means)**

**9: **_**We'll see more of Rarity's generosity.**_

**10: **_**More Equestria History revealed**_**.**

**11: **_**More members of the Main 6's families will be shown**_**.**

**12: **_**Twilight will still have flaws as a Princess**_**.**

**13: **_**More Alicorns will be revealed.**_** (Possible joke, but who knows)**

_**Poll**_**: Just a random question, **_**what do you see the show as**_**? Go to my profile to vote, these are the options.**

**1: **_**Little kid cartoon**_**.**

**2: **_**Pre-teen kid cartoon**_**.**

**3: **_**Pre-teen kid and teen cartoon**_**.**

**4: **_**Any age cartoon**_**.**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


	45. Chapter 45: Apple Cleaning Day

**Hey guys, welcome back. Sorry it took so long, it's been crazy lately.**

**As some of you may know, this story was published on the 3****rd**** of May 2012, so its anniversary was only a few days ago. Unfortunately, I didn't get this chapter done in time for it.**

**But this is a better day to post it, do you know why? Because not only does the Season 2 DVD come out today, it's my sister's birthday too. So let's wish Jess a happy birthday :D**

**The votes are in. 11 voted for **_**any age cartoon**_**, 2 voted for **_**pre-teen kid and teen cartoon**_**, 0 voted for **_**pre-teen kid cartoon**_**, and 1 voted for **_**little kid cartoon**_**. **

**These are very good results, I'm happy to hear them. Except for the 1 vote for **_**little kid cartoon**_**, I was hoping to avoid one of those (No offence to whoever made the vote)**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!**

Chapter 45: Apple Cleaning Day

It's been 2 days since I raced against Rainbow Dash and discovered Grimerd's journal. And so far, I've managed to keep it a secret from everyone.

But there's something odd about the journal. In the few pages I've read, Grimerd talks as though he was a prisoner of the tower, and his father's the warden.

Why did his father keep him locked away from the world? Did he know his son would turn evil? Was he trying to protect him from a cruel fate?...Or was _he_ the cruel one?

So many questions and only one way to answer them. I had to keep reading the journal, even if I felt a cold shiver down my spine every time I did.

**Ponyville library**

Once again, I was in the guest room reading some of the journal's pages. But like I said, I was trying to keep it a secret, so I locked the door to make sure no one would come in.

I was sat by the desk with the journal lying in front of me, I read its pages carefully so I wouldn't miss anything that might be important.

"_Words of an Alicorn – page 5_

'_Determination' That is one of the main keys to strength in both body and spirit._

_My Father grows impatient, he is searching for something…something far away from here, something secret. He has put the remainders of his life into this mysterious work, I don't even see him as much as I used to._

_But whatever he's looking for, he's determined to find it. And like I said, his determination makes him strong…and much more dangerous, especially if someone tries to get in his way._

_If he sets off on a quest to find whatever he seeks, it will mean I will have no one to hold me down. I will be able to leave this tower and explore the city beyond the stone windows, I will be able to explore Canterlot in all its glory."_

*Knock, knock, knock*

I pulled my head up from the book as someone knocked on the other side of the guest room door. "Matt, are you in there? Why's the door locked?" Twilight's voice asked.

As I panicked, I quickly slammed the journal shut before I flew it back up to its hiding spot. Once it was back in place, I flew down to the door and unlocked it.

I then opened the door to see Twilight. "Hey honey, what's up?" I asked while acting innocent.

"Matt, are you ok? You've been up here all morning." Twilight said with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah I'm fine, I just…errr…wanted to read a book in silence. So I came up to read in here." I said with a big nervous smile.

Twilight then gave me a confused yet suspicious look, I only continued to smile largely in the silent moment. "Anyway, I just wanted to remind you about Apple Cleaning day today?" Twilight said.

"Wha?" I said in confusion.

"Apple Cleaning Day! You told Applejack you'd be there to help clean up the farm, remember?" Twilight said, almost shocked by my forgetfulness.

At that moment, I all came back to me. I got so caught up in reading the journal that I forgot about it. "Oh horse-feathers! I'm supposed to be there to help Applejack and the others, and I nearly forgot." I said.

"Nearly?" Twilight said with a raised eye brow.

I looked up at a clock hanging from the wall to see it was nearly Twelve-o-clock, I was supposed to be there by now. "Oh shit, I have to get going." I said before I looked at Twilight again.

"Thanks for reminding me about it, I love ya." I said before I gave Twilight a small kiss; leaving her stunned and slightly surprised as I walked past her.

After shaking it off, she turned around to me. "Wait Matt." she called.

I then stopped at the top of the stairs and turned my head around to face her. "I love you too." Twilight said with a sweet smile.

I smiled back. "I love you more." I responded lovingly before I walked down the stairs and into the living room.

Once I got to the bottom of the stairs, I looked up to see Twilight looking down at me from the bedroom. "How long do you think it'll take?" I asked.

"To clean an entire farm? A few hours, maybe." Twilight answered.

"Oh terrific." I said sarcastically. "Well, seeing Applebloom again is worth it. I've really missed her and the other Crusaders." I stated.

"Well if you're lucky, maybe Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are there too." Twilight said with a simple smile.

"Hopefully. Anyway, I better get going before Applejack starts to wonder where I am. See ya, Twi." I said nicely before I walked over to the front-door and opened it.

Twilight and I then exchanged waves before I walked out of the library and closed the door behind me.

Soon after I left, Twilight looked over to the entrance of the guest room before she walked over to it and closed its door with her magic.

Twilight then exhaled quietly. "Looking into that dark room really creeps me out sometimes." She said to herself before she turned around and walked over to the stairs.

**Later: Sweet Apple Arches**

After a short flight through the warm weather, I landed in the middle of Sweet Apple Arches.

That's when I noticed most of the trees around me had no apples on them, Applejack and her family must've bucked them already.

Speaking of which, I also saw Applejack and Big Macintosh standing in front of the barn. "Hey, Applejack!" I called as I made my way over to them.

Applejack then turned around before and smiled once she saw me. "Howdy there, Matt. I was beginnin' to wonder if you were comin'." She said.

"Sorry about that, I was a bit caught up with something back at the library. But I'm here now, and I'm ready to get started." I said cheerfully as I walked up to her.

Applejack then gave me a pleased smile. "Well I'm glad to hear that." She said before her pleased smile turned into a thankful one. "Thank ya kindly for comin' to help by the way, it's not easy cleanin' an entire farm with only three ponies." she said.

I smiled back. "No prob, Applejack." I said before I looked around the area. "So, is Applebloom around?" I asked.

"Yep, she's in the corn fields. I'll just call her over." Applejack answered before she looked over to the corn fields. "Hey Applebloom! Look who's here to help!" she called with a small smirk.

After a few seconds, Applebloom walked out of the corn fields with a basket of corn-cobs in her mouth. But once she saw me, she dropped the basket and smiled largely. "Matt! You're back!" she cheered before she galloped up to me and hugged my chest.

I then hugged her back with one arm. "Hey Applebloom, how've you been since I left?" I asked with a warm smile.

"I've been fine, but I've really missed ya though." Applebloom said.

"I know, I've missed you too." I said as we continued to hug.

Applebloom and I then separated before she looked up at me. "I'm so glad you're back, just wait until I tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo!" she said in excitement.

Just then, we heard Applejack clear her throat. "Applebloom, what've we said about manners?" she said with a raised eye brow.

Applebloom's excited smile then turned into a smaller one. "Oh right…sorry." She said before she looked up at me again. "Umm…how was your honeymoon, Matt?" she asked while acting polite.

"It was great, you wouldn't believe the stuff that happened between Discord and Celestia. Haha, talk about awkward." I said in amusement.

"Somethin' happened between Discord and the Princess? Oh tell me, tell me." Applebloom said while hopping up and down slightly.

I let out a small chuckle as I watched her. "I'll tell you all about it when we start this whole cleaning thing." I stated.

Applebloom then stopped bouncing. "Oh, ok then." She said.

With that conversation settled, I looked at Applejack again to ask her a question. "So when _does_ this cleaning thing start?" I asked.

"We're gonna start any moment now, we're just waitin' for Granny Smith, she's in the house takin' a nap." Applejack explained.

"Oh really? This'll take an hour then." I joked before I sat down on the ground. However, I soon noticed everyone staring at me with their eyes wide open.

After wondering why they were doing that, I had a scary thought. "Urr…she's right behind me, isn't she?" I asked nervously.

"Ah-huh." A voice said behind me.

I then turned my head around slowly to see Granny Smith standing right behind me with a firm look on her face. "I resent that, sonny. Now everypony line up!" she ordered like a general.

With that, we all shot up into a line with our chests flexing out.

Once we did that, Granny Smith started pacing left and right in front of us. "Alright, Apple Family. We have a big job ahead of us, and that job is to give this farm a good old-faction cleanin' from top to bottom. We will clean the pens, we will re-paint the barn, we will-" she said before she suddenly stopped in her sentence.

I then watched as Granny Smith came over to me with a raised eye brow. "Wait a minute, you're not a member of the Apple Family, who the hay are ya?" she asked.

Before I could answer, Applejack spoke. "C'mon, Granny Smith. You remember Matthew, don'cha? We went to his weddin' a few weeks ago." She said, trying to get her to remember.

After hearing this, Granny Smith looked at me again before she smiled. "Oh yeah, now I remember ya. Matthew, how's Twilight been?" she asked kindly.

I was slightly nervous by her sudden change in personality "Urr…She's fine." I answered.

"Oh that's good to hear, I wanna hear all about your honeymoon later. But for now, we need to get back to…err…wh-what is it we're doin' again?" Granny Smith asked as she looked over to the others.

"It's Apple Cleanin' day, Granny." Applebloom answered.

Granny Smith blinked. "You're darn tootin' it is, that's why we need to know what we're doin'." She said before she continued to pace left and right.

"Now where was I?...err…Oh yeah. We will clean the pens, we will re-paint the barn, we will…err…oh you know, we have a lot of stuff to do. So everypony has to put their full effort into it, and we don't have time to goof around like a bunch of sheep…." Granny Smith said before she suddenly stopped.

After a few minutes, we all looked at each other in confusion before we looked at Granny Smith again. The moment was silent and kind of awkward. "…So what're ya'all waitin' for? Move ya cabooses!" Granny Smith said loudly.

With that, we all split up to work on different parts the farm. To understand what I was doing better, I went with Applejack towards the barn.

After we entered the barn, I looked around it before I turned my attention to Applejack. "So Applejack, what're we doing first?" I asked curiously.

Applejack turned her head around to face me. "Well we need to give this barn a fresh coat of paint, but we can't do that unless it's cleaned out first. So we're gonna have to take everythin' out of the barn so they won't be in the way." She explained.

"Ok, that doesn't so too hard. What should we take out first?" I asked.

Applejack then looked around before she spotted something I could do. "You can start by shiftin' those hay-bales if ya want." she said while pointing at a pile of square hay-bales.

I looked over to them and smiled slightly. "Alright, I can do that." I said before I walked over to the hay-bales and grabbed one by its band. I then started dragging it towards the exit.

"And while ya doin' that, I'll be up on the loft gatherin' things to take out. I'll check on ya in a minute." Applejack said before she made her way over to the ladder that led up to the barn's loft.

As Applejack climbed up the ladder, I continued to drag the hay-bale out of the barn. I was slightly surprised by its weight, these hay-bales were heavier than they looked. But eventually, I managed to get it outside.

I dragged it over to the white fence near the barn and released it. "Ok…one down." I said before I looked back into the barn to see the rest of the hay-bales. "And ten to go…*sigh*." I sighed.

I then walked back into the barn to get the next hay-bale, but the job soon became harder than I thought.

After a few minutes, I finally finished it. Now there was a pyramid of hay-bales outside the barn, don't ask how I got the last one up to the top.

I wiped the sweat off my head before I went back into the barn again. When I got inside, Applejack looked down at me from the loft. "Finished with those bales already? You sure are a quick worker, Matt." she said with an impressed tone.

I then gave her an amused smile. "Not really, I'm crap at paperwork. I'm only good at this because it's _physical_ work and it doesn't involve holding a pen all day." I stated.

Applejack chuckled. "Haha, yeah, I see what ya mean. But if ya like the physical stuff, then I've got another job for ya. Did ya see the waggon outside?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I saw it while I was dragging those hay-bales out." I answered.

"Well I need ya to hook it up to yourself and pull it in here, we're gonna need it to get all this stuff out." Applejack stated.

"On it." I said before I trotted out of the barn to fetch the waggon.

After attaching the waggon to myself, I pulled it inside the barn before Applejack looked down at me from the loft. "No, Matt. Don't come in forward, I need ya to back the waggon up into the barn." She stated.

I looked up at her. "Why?" I asked with my head cocked.

"Because I'm gonna drop this stuff down into the waggon, it'll be easier than going up and down the ladder a million times." Applejack explained.

I then did as she said by turning the waggon around and backing it up into the bard, I continued to back it up until it was right below the loft.

Once I was in place, Applejack smiled with satisfaction. "Good work, Matt. But get ready, I'm gonna drop down the heaviest thing first so it's out the way." She said before she walked away from loft's edge.

I then turned my head around to look up at the loft. "Ok, but how big is this thing?" I asked.

I got my answer when I saw a large wooden crate being pushed towards the edge, my eyes widened slightly. "Oh cra-" my sentence was cut off when the crate fell down into the waggon with a hard thud!

With the crate's weight now added to the waggon, the metal strap around me felt slightly tighter.

Applejack then came up to the loft's edge and looked down at me again. "Alright Matt, it's in. Now let's take it outside." She said before she climbed down the ladder.

Once she came down, I used all my strength to pull the heavy waggon towards the exit. Eventually, I managed to get it outside and stopped.

"Damn…what's in that thing?...pumpkins?" I asked Applejack while panting hard from exhaustion.

At that moment, Applejack gave me a sheepish smile. "Haha." She laughed nervously before she opened the crate lid with her hoof; revealing a whole stock of large pumpkins.

My eyes widened in shock. "Hey, it is full of pumpkins! Why is this crate full of pumpkins?!" I asked loudly.

"What do ya think we sell on Nightmare Night, cowboy?" Applejack said before she closed the crate.

"…Just get the crate out…" I groaned with my eye-lids half shut.

After taking care of the crate, we both went back to the barn to load-up more stuff. There were a lot of things up on the loft that needed to be taken out, like a bunch of straw-baskets, more hay-bales, and a cardboard box full of pictures from Granny Smith's childhood.

We kept doing this until the barn was completely empty, all the stuff we took out was now in a neat pile not far from the barn. We were gonna leave them there for now, but I knew we'd have to put them back later.

While we stared into the empty barn, Applejack turned her head to face me. "Nice job, Matt. I know it was hard work, but we pulled it off." She said with a proud smile.

I then looked at her and smiled back. "Yeah, so are we gonna start paining the barn now?" I asked.

Applejack shook her head. "Not yet, we're gonna leave that job for last. But if ya wanna do somethin' else, you can always help Big Macintosh harvest some extra apples. He's probably in the orchard right now." She said.

"Well that can only lead to disaster and hilarity…so yeah, I'll do it." I said with a simple smile.

"Great. You do that, and I'll start fixin' a few things up around here." Applejack said.

With that, we both went our separate ways. Applejack went around to the front-door of her household while I made my way over to the apple orchard to help Big Mac.

**Apple orchard**

After entering the apple orchard, I looked around until I spotted Big Macintosh standing next to an apple-filled tree.

I also noticed Winona picking up apples and dropping them into a wooden basket beside Big Mac, she must be helping him collect apples that miss the basket when they fall.

As I walked up to him, Big Mac bucked the tree with his hide-hooves before a bunch of apples fell down into the basket below; filling it up.

"Hey Big Mac, working hard?" I asked with a smile.

Big Mac then turned his head to face me. "Eeyup." He answered with a small nod.

"Nice. So anyway, Applejack and I are done cleaning out the barn and she says you might need some help over here, do you want me to do anything?" I asked curiously.

"Eeyup." Big Mac answered before he pointed his hoof at something.

I then looked to where he was pointing to see an apple tree that hadn't been bucked yet, a few empty baskets had already been placed under its branches. "You can buck the trees over there if ya want." Big Mac said.

I turned my attention back to Big Mac. "Sure thing, I'll meet up with you when I'm finished." I stated before I made my way over to the apple tree. Surprisingly, Winona followed me.

When we reached the tree, we looked up at its apples to see they were definitely ready for picking, I was even tempted to eat one myself. But the job came first, I'll ask for one later.

I then looked down at Winona who was standing beside me. "Those apples look good enough to pick, what do you think?" I asked.

Winona looked up at me. *Bark, bark* She barked while nodding slightly.

I gave her an amused smile. "I'll take that as a _yes_." I said before we turned our attention back on the tree.

Once I got the basket properly in place, I turned my body around before I lifted my hide-legs and gave the tree a hard buck. However, no apples fell down.

I stayed in the position I was in for a few seconds before I quickly rolled over onto my back and rubbed my hide-hooves. "Ow, ow, ow, ow." I repeated in pain.

Winona just sat there as she rolled her black beady eyes at the sight of this.

After rubbing my hooves a bit more, I stood back up before I looked at the apples again. "Hmm…how am I gonna do this without breaking my legs?" I muttered to myself as I tried to think.

Eventually, I came up with an idea and shot off to find what I wanted. A few minutes later, I came back with a long wooden stick in my mouth before I dropped it onto the ground. "Alright Winona, just stand back a bit so you don't get hurt." I said while looking down at Winona.

Winona obeyed by standing up and taking a few steps back.

Once she was in a safe distance, I picked up the stick with my front-hooves before I swung it up at the apples above. Unfortunately, I wasn't tall enough for the stick to reach them. Swing after swing, I kept missing without getting close to the apples, even standing on my hind-legs didn't help.

I soon gave up and allowed the stick to drop down onto the ground. But I wasn't going down that easy, so I tried to think of another way to make the apples fall.

That's when I hoisted the stick back up and held it in a bat-swinging position with my eyes focused on the tree's truck.

Winona soon realised what I was about to do and covered her eyes with her paw, not bearing to watch.

Then with one hard swing, the stick smacked against the wooden trunk. I but instead of sending vibrations through the tree, the hit sent vibrations through _me_.

With my entire body shaking like crazy, I slowly pulled the stick away from the tree. "Th-th-th-there's got to b-b-be a bet-t-t-ter way to d-d-do th-th-this." I managed to say before I released the stick.

After I shook the vibrations off, I dropped back down onto my hooves before looking up at the tree again. But this time, it was with an annoyed look. "Alright, no more mister nice pony. Those apples are coming down, one way or another." I declared strongly.

With that said, I tried many ways to get the apples to fall. I tried climbing the tree, but I kept falling. I tried using a lasso-rope to pull them down, but I wasn't good at it. I even tried shaking the tree itself, but they all ended with one thing, failure!

While I was having another go at bucking the tree-trunk, Big Macintosh came over to me while pulling an apple waggon behind him.

Once he noticed the exhausted look on my face, he grew slightly concerned. "You ok?" he asked.

I then stopped bucking the tree and looked up at him. "These apples are wearing me out…it's like they're glued to the branches or something." I said while panting.

"What'd ya mean?" Big Mac asked with slight confusion.

"No matter what I do…these apples won't fall down…I've tried bucking the tree, shaking them down, I even tried whacking them with a stick…How do you make it look so easy?" I asked.

"Well maybe apple-buckin' just isn't the right type of work for ya. But you do know you're a Pegasus, right?" Big Macintosh asked while still in confusion.

"Yeah, what's your point?" I asked with a raised eye brow.

"Well ya could've just flied up there and picked the apples, ya don't have to do it _exactly_ like us." Big Macintosh stated.

The moment I heard that, my eyes shot wide open in disbelief. I could've avoided all this trouble from the very beginning, how could I have forgotten I had wings? I couldn't help but blush deeply from pure embarrassment.

My left-eye twitched slightly before I growled loudly. "You've got to be kidding me!" I shouted as I gave the tree a hard buck; causing it to shake.

Suddenly, a whole load of apples then fell down from the tree and landed in the baskets. I looked at the now full baskets with surprise and placed my hide-legs back on the ground. "Huh…well that solves that problem." I said before I lied down against the tree and relaxed.

"Yeah, but there's still a few more trees to buck." Big Macintosh stated.

My eyes then shot open before I looked around the orchard. Unfortunately, he was right, there were still many more apple-filled trees around me. Upon seeing this, I felt my head start to spin.

It wasn't hard for Big Macintosh to notice this. "I know it's hard work, but that's the thing about runnin' a farm." He said before he thought of a way to help me. "Tell ya what, let's work together on this. I'll buck the apples down and you catch them in the basket, deal?" he said.

After hearing that, I gave it some thought. It did seem a lot easier that way, and I wouldn't have to worry about making the apples fall anymore. "Well…alright, let's do that." I said with a small confident smile before I stood back up.

Big Macintosh then smiled at me before we made our way over to the next apple-tree, Winona followed behind with her tail wagging.

**Later: The Barn**

It took a while, but Big Macintosh and I were finally finished. There were still some trees with apples on them, but we harvested more than enough.

After we stored all our picked apples away, Big Mac and I headed over to the barn to see if Applejack and the others needed held re-painting it.

As we approached the barn, we saw that Applejack and Granny Smith had already started painting it. Granny Smith was painting the left side of the barn while Applejack was paining the main double-doors.

"You're doing a good job there, Applejack." I said as we walked up to her.

Applejack then turned her head around to me and smiled. "Thanks, but we've only just started, it'll take us a little longer to re-paint this whole thing. I take it you're both here to help out?" she asked.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh answered.

Applejack looked him and smiled. "That's good, we need all the help we can get."

"What do you need us to do?" I asked.

"Well Big Mac can start paintin' the right-side of the barn while you help Applebloom at the back. That is, if she ever shows up." Applejack stated.

"What do you mean? Where is she?" I asked slightly worried.

"She went over to the pig pen to give the pigs a bath, but she's been there all evenin'." Applejack said.

"Maybe I should go check on her." I said.

At that moment, Applejack looked over to something behind me before she looked at me again. "I don't think that'll be necessary anymore." She said.

I then turned my head around to see Applebloom galloping to us before she stopped. "Sorry I'm late, Applejack. Those pigs were hard to clean, especially _Little Piggington_." She explained.

I then looked over to the pig pen to see a large fat pig with a blue bow rolling around in the mud. "You mean that pig?" I asked while pointing at it.

Applebloom turned her head around and gasped at what Piggington was doing. "Shoot! It took me forever to clean her." She said as she looked at us again.

Applejack then gave her a kind smile. "It's ok Applebloom, Piggington dose that every time someone cleans her." She stated.

"Yeah, but I guess this means I won't get a cutie mark for animal cleanin'." Applebloom said with a small frown.

Feeling bad for Applebloom, Applejack thought of a way to cheer her up. "Would workin' with Matt help ya feel better?" She asked.

After hearing this, Applebloom's small frown turned into a smile. "That's sounds nice." She said.

Applejack then looked at me. "How 'bout it, Matt? Wanna help Applebloom paint the back of the barn?" she asked.

I nodded. "Sure, I've been wanting to spend a little time with Applebloom anyway." I said while stroking Applebloom's head with my hoof.

"Good. Now you two go around back and start paintin', I'll stay here and finish up on these doors." Applejack said before she looked at Big Macintosh. "Big Mac, we need you to paint the right-side of the barn." She said.

Big Macintosh then nodded before he walked around to the right-side of the barn.

"C'mon Matt, we have a barn to paint." Applebloom said with excitement as she galloped around to the back of the barn.

After she disappeared around the corner, Applejack and I looked at each other. "Thanks Matt, this really means a lot to her." She said with a thankful smile.

I smiled back. "No problem, Applejack. And don't worry, I'll help her if she needs it." I stated before I followed Applebloom around to the back.

But once I got there, I was met with a surprising sight.

Applebloom had already started painting the wooden wall with a paint-brush in her mouth. But unlike other kids her age who would paint in a crazy style, Applebloom did it with smooth and gentle strokes.

I was amazed by Applebloom's work and stepped closer to admire it, her skills with a brush were impressive. "Wow Applebloom, you're really good at this." I said without taking my eyes off her work.

Applebloom dropped her brush into the paint-can before she looked at me. "Oh I can't be _that_ good." she said while rubbing her hoof against the ground in an embarrassed way.

I then looked down at her with an honest smile. "But you are, I don't think I've ever seen a pony with such a steady…well…mouth." I said.

"Well…thanks Matt, but I bet you're as good as I am, it's nothin' special." Applebloom said before she picked her bush back up and continued to painting the barn in her talented way.

As I watched her work, I couldn't help but chuckle. "And she wonders what her _special talent_ is." I thought before I decided to get to work on the barn.

I then looked around for another brush before I saw one lying on the ground next to Applebloom's paint-can, I guess this meant we had to share the can.

But as I reached down to pick the brush up with my mouth, I suddenly notice something on Applebloom's flank, it was some sort of picture. After a few seconds, I figured it out and my eyes grew wide. "No way…has it finally happened?" I thought.

I then took a closer look to see it was a single red apple, my heart began to race as I thought she had finally earned her cutie mark. "Applebloom…h-have you noticed what's on your flank?" I asked without taking my eyes off her cutie mark.

Applebloom dropped her brush again before she looked at me. "Oh, you mean my new cutie mark? Yeah, I earned it early this week." She said.

I then raised my head back up before I smiled largely at her. "Applebloom, that's great! You've finally got you're cutie mark. We told you it would come if you-…wait a minute." I said as I took another close look at her it.

At that moment, Applebloom's proud smile turned into a nervous one. "W-What?...What's wrong?" she asked.

As I looked closer at her cutie mark, I saw some wired red dust on it. I then gently stroked my hoof across her cutie mark to see I had made a smudge on it, this raised my suspicion.

After figuring it out, I looked at Applebloom's face again. "Applebloom, this cutie mark's been drawn on with crayon." I said as I raised my head back up.

Applebloom's wide eyes then shifted left and right. "Urr…what's your point?" she asked.

"It's a fake." I answered.

Applebloom was silent as she stared up at me "Oh…really? Now how in Equestria did that happen? Huh, must've been one of the kids from school. Probably Diamond Tiara tryin' to tease me again, you know what she's like, haha." She laughed nervously.

I could tell she was trying to play innocent, so I gave her an unconvinced look with my eye brow raised.

As the seconds went by, Applebloom began to sweat before she finally cracked. "Alright, I did it. I was tired of havin' a blank-flank all the time, so I drew a fake cutie mark on my flank. It seemed like a good idea at the time." She explained with a small frown.

I then placed my hoof gently on her back. "Applebloom, sweet-heart, I know you really want your cutie mark, but you didn't need to do that. I mean, how do you know your special talent involves apples?" I asked.

"I don't know…I just thought it would fit because everyone else in the family has apple-themed cutie marks." Applebloom stated.

"But from what I remember, you've already tried getting an apple-themed cutie mark and it didn't work." I said as I removed my hoof from her back.

"I know, but I'm not gonna keep it forever, just until my real one appears. Please Matt, let me keep it for now." Applebloom begged.

"Well…alright, but just don't get too attached to it, it's not gonna be there forever you know." I said.

"Oh thank you, thank you." Applebloom replied with a large smile.

"It's ok, now c'mon, we need to get back to work before Applejack comes to check on us." I said before we both picked our paint-brushes up and went back to re-painting the barn wall.

Suddenly, Applebloom realized something and dropped her brush again. "Hey, how'd you know I tried to get an apple-themed cutie mark anyway? You weren't even there." she said while looking at me suspiciously.

My eyes then widened slightly. "Oh that?...well I…errr…Oh look at the time, we better get back to work." I muffled with the brush still in my mouth before I resumed painting.

Applebloom then decided to forget about it and picked her paint-brush back up. As we both went back to work, I exhaled in relief. "Woow, that was close." I thought.

**A few minutes later**

After Applebloom and I finished painting the back, we both went around to the front of the barn to see Applejack had finished her job as well. As we approached her, Applejack noticed us and smiled. "Finished already? Well that didn't take too long, did it?" she said.

Applebloom and I shook our heads. "No, and by the way, have you ever noticed Applebloom's skills with a paint-brush?" I asked.

Applejack's eyes then closed half-way. "Yeah, but I think the real question is have _you_ noticed the state of her coat?" She said.

I was confused for a moment before I looked down at Applebloom and realized what she meant. Applebloom's coat was covered in dry paint, she must've dropped a bit on her while we were working. "Oops" I said.

"Looks like somepony needs to have a bath." Applejack said with a small smirk on her face.

Once she heard that, Applebloom let out a whiny groan. "Oooh, but I hate baths." She stated.

"I know, Applebloom. But we're all havin' one after this, so you might as well get yours over with. But I don't think I have time to give ya one right now…unless." Applejack said before she looked at me. "Unless Matt wants to do it." she finished.

"…What?..." Applebloom and I said at the same time.

"You don't mind givin' Applebloom a bath, do ya?" Applejack asked with a hopeful smile on her face.

"Well…urr…I guess I could do it." I answered while secretly unsure.

"Great, you go inside and give Applebloom a bath while I stay here and help Granny Smith paint her side of the barn." Applejack said before she trotted around the left-side of the barn.

After she was gone, Applebloom and I looked at each other. "So, wanna get this thing over with so it's done?" I said trying to give her a good reason to accept it.

"…I guess so." Applebloom said.

Hearing this relieved me because I thought she'd try to talk me out of it. But I was stupid to think that about Applebloom, she was a good girl who always did as she was told.

Although, there was that time when Applejack got shrunk by the Poison Joke and Applebloom left her stranded on a tree-branch, but that was different. Plus, Applejack did act a bit…bossy…back then.

Anyway, I smiled down at her before we walked around to the house-entrance of the barn.

**Apple Family household**

After we entered the house, Applebloom and I went upstairs to the bathroom. Applebloom waited in her room while I ran her bath.

Once the bath was ready for her, Applebloom came back before she took her bow off and gladly hopped into the water. With Applebloom now settled in the warm bubbly water, she was ready to be washed.

I grabbed a sponge with my hoof before I dipped it into the water and started scrubbing Applebloom's back, I made sure to use gentle rubs so I wouldn't hurt her in any way.

"Is this alright, Applebloom?" I asked as I kept scrubbing her yellow fur.

"Yeah, it actually feels nice." Applebloom said with a small smile.

When I finished scrubbing her back, I saw a bar of soap near the bath before I looked down at Applebloom. "Hey Applebloom, do you mind washing yourself with the soap while I get the shower-hose ready?" I asked.

"Sure thing." Applebloom answered before she grabbed the soap with her hoof and started rubbing it against herself.

While she was doing that, I reached my hoof over to one of the shower-knobs and turned it clock-wise. Water then instantly began to rain down from the shower-head.

I then looked over to Applebloom to see her whole body covered in soap, I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of her. "Haha. Oh no, it's a bubble monster. Please, stay back." I said with a playful smile on my face.

At first, Applebloom was confused, but she soon got the idea and played along. "Grrr, I'm a vicious bubble monster from the deep and I'm here to cover you in my evil bubbliness." She said while paddling towards me.

"No, don't come any closer, I can't take it. There's only one thing I can do to stop you." I said in a dramatic way before I picked Applebloom up and placed her back down under the shower-water.

The bubbles covering Applebloom's body were instantly rinsed off by the warm water raining down on her. "Nooo, you found my one weakness, you have defeated me *Fake cough*." Applebloom said while pretending to be weak.

I smiled with amusement. "You bet I have." I said as I gently splashed Applebloom with the bath water; earning a small giggle from her.

I then gapped a shampoo bottle before I flicked the top off with my hoof and poured some over Applebloom's mane.

Once it was on, I placed the bottle back down before I used my hooves to rub the shampoo into Applebloom's hair.

"Keep your eyes shut, Applebloom. We don't want any of this to go in your eyes." I said as I kept rubbing her now sudsy mane.

"Ok." Applebloom answered with her eyes shut tightly.

When all the shampoo was washed off by the shower-water, I turned the shower off before I grabbed a towel and used it to wipe all the water off Applebloom's face.

Once he face was dry, I took the towel away before Applebloom slowly opened her eyes. "Is it time for me to get out?" she asked while looking at me.

I nodded. "Yeah, I'll help you dry yourself once you come out." I said while holding the towel open with my hooves.

Applebloom then climbed out of the bath before I wrapped the towel around her. While Applebloom dried parts at the front of her body, I helped dry her back.

Once she was dry, I removed the towel to see her coat sparkle with cleanliness. "So do you feel refreshed now?" I asked as I threw the wet towel in a hamper.

Applebloom then looked around her clean coat. "Kinda…but I feel as though something's missin', somethin' import-*GASP* Oh no!" she said in a loud voice.

"Wh-what is it?" I asked with concern.

Applebloom then rotated her body around until I could see her blank-flank. But that was just the point, it was blank!

"My crayon cutie mark's gone, it must've washed off in the bath. Now what am I gonna do?" Applebloom frowned as she sat on the floor.

I couldn't help but feel bad for her. It wasn't a big deal, but I had to be sensitive to her feelings. "Hey, it's ok Applebloom. Why don't you just draw another one?" I asked.

"Oh what's the point? Lets face it, I can't pretend to have a cutie mark, I'll have a blank-flank forever." Applebloom said as she looked down at the floor with sadness.

"That's not true, Applebloom. You'll get your cutie mark someday, just…not right now, maybe when you're older." I said trying to help her feel better.

Applebloom then looked up at me. "What do ya mean '_when I'm older_'? How old do I have to be? Most of the kids at school are my age and _they_ have their cutie marks. *Sigh* What am I doin' wrong, Matt? Why can't I find my special talent?" she asked.

I didn't know how to answer her question. I mean, I didn't exactly know what her special talent was. I did have a hunch earlier today that it was something to do with painting and decoration, but how can I be sure?

I then realized Applebloom was still waiting for my answer. "Well…you see…umm…I doubt you're doing anything wrong, but maybe you and the other Crusaders should try doing things you like instead of all those random activities you always do." I said.

Applebloom then rubbed her chin as she thought about it. "Or maybe…we're just not tryin' hard enough." She said with a gentle smile.

"Well, that's not really what I mea-"

"I have to ask Applejack if she'll let me go find the others! If we're gonna earn our cutie marks, we have to get back to work proto." Applebloom interrupted before she put her bow back on and galloped out of the bathroom.

After she left, I just blinked before a small smile came on my face. "She'll get the idea one day." I said to myself before I left the bathroom and followed her outside.

**Outside the household**

After exiting the household, Applebloom and I went around to the entrance of the barn to see Applejack and the others putting everything I took out back inside it.

Granny Smith was carrying small things into the barn, Applejack was organizing everything up on the loft, and Big Macintosh was pushing in all the heavy stuff.

Once we entered the barn, we both looked up at Applejack on the loft. "Hey Applejack!" Applebloom called.

After a second, Applejack walked up to the edge of the loft and looked down at us. "Hey Applebloom, all clean I see, did Matt do a good job?" she asked with a simple smile.

Applebloom nodded. "Yep." She answered before she decided to ask her question. "Hey Applejack, do ya mind if I go play with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle for the rest of the day? I promise not to do anythin' that'll get me all dirty again." she said with a hopeful smile.

"Well…ok, just be back before dark, alright?" Applejack said.

"Deal! Thanks" Applebloom said before she spun around and left the barn. "Baseball cutie mark, here I come!" she cheered as she galloped towards town.

After watching her leave the farm, Applejack and I looked at each other. "Matt, do ya mind comin' up here to help me? There's a lot of stuff up here." she said.

"Ok." I said before I spread my wings out and flew up onto the loft. "What's up?" I asked after I landed next to Applejack.

"Well before we get started, I just wanna say somethin'." Applejack said before she gave me a thankful smile. "Thank you for everythin' you've done today, it means a lot to us." she said.

I then smiled back. "No prob Applejack, I've enjoyed myself today, even if I struggled at some points." I stated.

"Well I'm I glad you had fun, and we really do appreciate all the help you've been givin' us. In fact, we even have a little somethin' to give ya after we're done here." Applejack said.

At that moment, I became curious as to what they were going to give me. "Really? What is it?" I asked with an excited smile.

Applejack then gave me a cheeky smirk. "Oh no you don't, it's a surprise. You wanna know what it is? You've gotta help me finish this job first." She said.

"Meany." I joked. "Ok, what do you want me to do?" I asked.

With that, Applejack looked down from the edge of the loft. "See those boxes down there?" she said while pointing her hoof down at something.

I then looked down at what she was pointing at to see a couple of cardboard-boxes stacked in a neat pile. "Yeah." I answered.

"I want ya to fly down there and bring them up one-by-one, I'll take care of the rest." Applejack explained while looking at me.

I then turned my head to face her and nodded. "Got it, I'll get started." I said before I flew down to the pile of boxes and grabbed the one at the top.

With the box in my hooves, I flew back up to the loft and placed it down beside Applejack. "This isn't such a core, is it?" I said.

"Just wait until later when you have to bring up the heavy stuff, these boxes are just the starter." Applejack stated with another smirk on her face.

Once I heard that, my smile went away. "I don't see this ending well." I muttered before I flew down to get the next box.

Applejack just shook her head in amusement before she pushed the box over to the back-wall.

Later, I had already brought up 6 boxes and I was now bringing up the seventh. After placing it down on the loft, I rested my elbow on it to catch my breath.

"Is it me or did this become harder than it was before? What's in these things anyway? bricks?" I said to myself before I removed my elbow and lifted the box's lid up; revealing something inside that I found interesting.

The box was full of black-and-white photographs and old books, they looked as though they were from Ponyville's olden days. And there was something in common with some of the photos, they had green mare with blond hair on them. Just then, Applejack came over to me. "You know it's rude to snoop, right?" she joked.

I then looked at her. "Sorry, I just wanted to know what was in here. By the way, who's this?" I asked while pointing at one of the photos with the mare on it.

Applejack looked at the photo before she looked back at me again. "Her? That's Granny Smith when she was my age. She certainly looked different back then, didn't she?"

I was surprised by this. All these photos and books belonged to Granny Smith, and the green mare on most of them was her when she was young. "Really? What's she doing in these pictures? It looks like some sort of party." I said as I looked at another photos.

"That's a picture from one of the old _Apple Family Reunions_, that party only comes every one-hundred moons." Applejack explained.

"ONE-HUNDRED?! How many Family Reunions have you had?" I asked in a shocked tone.

Applejack shrugged. "I don't know, they've been going on for as long as I can remember. But according to Granny Smith, they've been goin' on ever since Ponyville was founded." She said.

"But that must've been like…_thousands_ of years ago." I said still shocked.

"I know. Look Matt, if ya have questions about the past, talk to Granny Smith, she knows more than I do. But let's just finish this job first, ok?" Applejack said.

"Wait a minute, I just found something I need to see." I said before I reached my hooves into the box. Once I grabbed what wanted, I smiled sweetly. "Aww, this is the most adorable thing I've ever seen." I said.

"What is it?" Applejack asked as she tried to look at what was holding.

I then pulled it out to reveal a picture of Applejack as a baby, she had small pig-tails in her hair and her tong was sticking out a bit. "It's you as a baby, oh look at your little tong sticking out." I teased as I pointed at her tiny tong.

Applejack then blushed with embarrassment. "Umm…alright Matt, you've seen it, now put it back." She said.

"But I wanna look at it a bit more." I said in a whiny voice.

"I said put it back!" Applejack said before she pulled the picture out of my hooves with her mouth and dropped it back into the box.

"Now go get the next box." Applejack ordered before she walked around to the front of the box and started pushing it towards the others at the back.

"Alright…Tomorrow's newspaper headline, '_Farm-girl can't take a joke'_." I said to myself before I turned around and flew down to get the next box.

**Later: Apple fields**

After we organized everything in the barn, we were finally finished. The pens and animals were clean, the barn was re-painted, and we harvested more than enough extra food.

Now, we were all in an open field where we could get a good view of the whole farm. "Boy howdy, this had to be the quickest Cleanin' Day we've ever had. Don't ya think, Big Mac?" Applejack asked as we looked out at the farm.

"Eeyup." Big Macintosh answered.

Applejack then turned her head to face me. "What do you think, Matt? Did it feel quick to you?" Applejack asked.

I turned my head to look at her. "Well I've never been involved in an Apple Cleaning Day before. But if you think so, that's fine with me." I stated.

Applejack gave me a thankful smile. "By the way, thanks again for helpin' us out, Matt. We owe ya one." She said.

Before I could say anything else, Granny Smith placed her hoof on my back. "And we have just the thing to thank ya with." she said before she turned around to face something.

We all then did the same and I was slightly confused by what I saw.

It was some sort of machine. It had a giant stone wheel in a large wooden box, a metal tap sticking out of the front with a barrel underneath the nozzle, and what appeared to be a treadmill attached to the side.

It was an odd looking device, I had no idea what it was. "What's that thing?" I asked while staring at it.

"It's your reward." Applejack answered as we approached the machine.

"You're giving me a machine?" I asked in confusion.

Granny Smith then turned her head to face me. "Heck no, we're givin' ya what the machine makes." She stated before she looked over to Big Macintosh. "Show 'im, Big Mac." She said.

With that, Big Macintosh walked over to the machine before he stepped onto the treadmill and began to run on it; surprisingly causing the stone wheel to spin.

I then watched as Granny Smith walked around the to the back of the machine and packed up a bucket of fresh apples, she poured them down a metal slope and they rolled into the machine.

At that moment, I heard a loud splattering noise coming from the large box under the big wheel. The wheel was obviously crushing the apples inside the box, but for what reason?

All the apple juice then dribbled out of the tap and into the barrel under the nozzle. When it stopped, the barrel was full of fizzy apple juice. I looked at it with wonder. "What's that?" I asked.

Instead of an answer, Applejack walked up beside me and scooped up some of the strange liquid with a wooden cup. She then held the cup out to me before I took it with my hoof.

"Matt, you're gonna be the first pony to taste this year's _Apple Family Cider_." Applejack announced as Granny Smith and Big Macintosh came over to join us.

Once I heard that, my eyes widened slightly. "Did you say…cider? As in, _actual_ apple cider?" I asked.

"Urr…yeah." Applejack answered with a nervous smile.

The moment was quiet before a large smile came on my face. "I love apple cider, it's one of my two faverate drinks, next to Coca-Cola. I never thought Equestria had this kind of drink here, have you guys always made this?" I asked.

Applejack then nodded. "Yeah, it's what we sell durin' _Cider Season_." She stated.

"Great, that means I can get more later this year. Oh my god, I can't believe you actually have cider here, I can't get over this." I said in a cheerful tone.

"Well stop gabbin' and drink it already." Applejack said with an amused smile.

I nodded. "Ok, ok, here it goes." I said before I brought the cup up to my mouth and took a sip. Once I tasted it, my eyes shot wide open with amazement. This was more than delicious, it was the best apple cider I've ever tasted.

"So what do ya think?" Granny Smith asked.

I then lowered my cup before I looked at her. "Well…I have to say that this…is the best cider I've ever had, this stuff's amazing!" I said loudly before I took another sip.

After hearing this, Applejack and the others smiled with relief. "Thank goodness, we need our cider to be at its best for Cider Season." She said.

I then lowered my cup again to speak. "Why? Is this 'Cider Season' a big deal or something?" I asked curiously.

"Durin' the winter, our trees won't grow as much apples as they normally do. So we sell cider instead to keep our business runnin' until winter ends. When Cider Season's not far off, we usually ask somepony to taste-test it. We would taste it ourselves, but then we wouldn't get someone else's opinion." Applejack explained.

"So that's why you rewarded me with this? So I could test it?" I asked.

"Trust me, it's a fine reward. Seriously, there're some ponies in town who'd usually beg to have the first taste." Applejack stated.

Suddenly, there was a loud whooshing sound behind me. That's when I turned my head around to see Rainbow Dash, she was hovering a few feet in the air with a desperate look on her face. "Applejack, please can I have the first taste of your cider this year?" she begged.

"Sorry Rainbow, Matt just beat ya to it." Applejack said with sorrow.

"Dang it!" Rainbow Dash said with annoyance before she shot off into the sky.

Once that random moment was over, I turned my head back around to face Applejack. "Don't worry Applejack, this cider's really amazing. And from what you've just told me, ponies will be desperate to get their hooves on this. You'll probably have a line stretching all the way to town." I said with an honest smile.

"Well…I guess you have a point there, and lots of ponies _do_ buy our cider every year." Applejack said with a small smile.

"There you go then. Trust me, this cider will sell like crazy, even if I have to buy every barrel myself." I said.

Applejack then chuckled. "Haha. Alright, I get the message…I'm glad you like the cider, I'll be sure to save a cup for you and Twilight when Cider Season comes around." She said.

"Thanks…Speaking of Twilight, I should really head back to her. I've been here longer than I thought, she might be worried." I said.

"Alright, but we still need to talk about your job. You can have tomorrow off, but I want you to come back the day after, ok?" Applejack said.

I nodded. "Got it, I need to get back into the job anyway, it's been a while." I said.

"Good, we'll see ya then. Now you better go on back to Twilight before she _does_ get worried, and be sure to say hi for me." Applejack said while smiling.

"I will if you'll say goodbye to Applebloom for me." I said with a cheeky smirk.

Applejack continued to smile as she rolled her eyes. "Ok, I'll say goodbye to Applebloom for ya once she gets back." She said.

I then drank the last of the cider before I placed the cup down on the ground. "Thanks, see ya Applejack." I said before I looked at Granny Smith and Big Macintosh. "See ya." I said to them.

"Bye." Big Macintosh said as he waved his hoof at me.

However, instead of waving, Granny Smith came over to me. "Now hold on a minute there, sonny. There's one more thing I want to give ya." She said.

As I wondered what she wanted to give me, Granny Smith reached her hoof into her bandanna and pulled out a silver necklace with a pink crystal heart hanging from it. "My Pa gave this necklace to my Ma after they got married, it was her faverate piece of jewelry." She said.

I stared at the necklace in awe, but I also wondered why Granny Smith was showing it to me. "Now you're new to the whole _married life_ thing, and I can tell you love Twilight very much, don't ya?" she asked.

I nodded. "More than anything." I answered.

"Well that's why I want you to have this and give it to Twilight." Granny Smith stated as she held the necklace out to me.

I was surprised by what she was doing, she wanted me to have her mother's necklace so I could give it to Twilight. I then gently took the necklace with my hoof and watched it sparkle in the sunlight. "Granny Smith…this is very nice of you, but…I can't. It's been in your family for years, I just can't take something like that." I said.

"Don't worry about it, Matthew. I want ya to have it, just think of it as a little somethin' for bein' so good to Applebloom." Granny Smith said while gave me a friendly smile.

I then smiled back before I hugged her with one arm. "Thanks Granny Smith." I said nicely.

Granny Smith hugged me beck before she spoke. "You're very welcome, now go on and find Twilight so she can see the gift you have for her." She said.

We then separated before I nodded. "I will, thanks for this." I said before slip the necklace onto my neck so I wouldn't lose it.

"I'll see you all later." I said before I turned around and took off into the air to fly home.

As they all watched me fly away, Applejack called out to me. "Don't forget to come back after tomorrow, you don't wanna be late for your first day back at work." She said.

I then stopped in mid-air before I turned around to look down at her. "I won't. And don't worry about Cider Season, everything will be." I called back.

"We're all hopin' so. But I guess there's no point in worryin' about it right now, Cider Season's still a while away." Applejack stated.

"Exactly, so don't worry about just yet. Now I really have to get going, I'll see you again soon." I called before I turned back around and flew off into town.

Applejack and the others continued to watch me until I was out of sight. After a moment, Applejack turned around to face the others. "C'mon ya'all, let's go inside and get somethin' to eat, I'm starvin'." She said.

With that, they all went back to the barn before they entered the household. While Applejack and Big Macintosh were cooking, Granny Smith was in her room sitting in front of a counter.

She was staring down at an empty necklace case; which once held the necklace she gave me. "…*Sigh* Matt's a good kid." She said to herself.

At that moment, Granny Smith opened a drawer under the counter. It was full of necklaces that looked identical to the one she gave me.

Granny Smith then took one out before she placed it in the empty necklace case. "A little gullible though, hahaha." She laughed before she closed the drawer and stood up.

With her legs creaking, Granny Smith walked out of her room and went down stairs to join the others for dinner.

**That night: Ponyville Library**

After returning to the library, I gave Twilight the necklace and she couldn't thank me enough. She was surprised when I told her Granny Smith gave it to me, she thought it was really nice and generous of her.

Twilight was now standing in front of her mirror while I fastened the necklace onto her. When I got it on, she looked so beautiful with it. "Matt, it's so lovely. I still can't believe Granny Smith let you have this, especially since it was her mother's." Twilight said as she stared at her reflection.

"I know, I was confused too. But she wanted you to have it, and I think it looks amazing on you." I said with a warm smile.

"Aww, you little flatterer." Twilight said as turned around to me. "So, you wanna go somewhere tonight?" she asked.

"You mean like for dinner?" I asked curiously.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, maybe we could go to our faverate restaurant, we haven't been there in a while." she said.

A sly smirk then came on my face. "You mean the place where we eat on the table in the gazebo?...Where it'll be just the two of us?...Alone?" I said as I stepped closer to her.

Twilight then got the idea and giggled. "Hmm…maybe." She said as she wrapped her left-arm around my neck.

"Then maybe we should go out, I've been in Sweet Apple Arches all day so I have a lot of catching up to do with you." I stated while still smirking.

"Then what're we waiting for?" Twilight asked before she removed her hoof from my neck and walked away, I then followed down the stairs and into the living-room.

As we made our way towards the door, Spike came in from the other room and noticed us. "Where're you two going?" he asked.

Twilight and I then stopped before we turned our heads around to face him. "Twilight and I are going out for dinner, we'll be back later. Can you take care of the library with Jeff and Peewee for us?" I asked.

After hearing this, Spike frowned slightly. "Oh…sure, I can do that." He said while twiddling with his fingers.

Once we saw this, Twilight and I knew he was upset because we were leaving him behind. After thinking about it, Twilight and I smiled at each other before we looked at Spike again. "Alright, c'mon." I said.

Spike's sad look was then replaced by a cheerful smile. "Really? Thanks" he said as he ran up to us.

"Hey, do you think I'd upset my little bro?" I said as I tussled Spike's head with my hoof.

After I removed my hoof from his head, Spike climbed up onto my back before Twilight opened the door with her magic.

"I've never actually tried the food at this restaurant, do you think they serve gem-stones?" Spike asked as we walked out of the library.

"Not likely, sorry buddy." I said while Twilight used her magic to close the door behind us.

Soon after we left, Jeff and Peewee came into the living-room and noticed we were gone. "Hey, where'd everyone go?" Jeff asked.

"No idea, it looks like we're on our own tonight." Peewee answered.

Jeff then smiled deviously. "Really? Huh, this means we can do anything we want without anyone knowin'." He said.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Peewee said.

The moment was then silent before Jeff turned his head to face Peewee. "Wanna get some ice-cream from the freezer?" he asked without his devious smile.

Peewee looked at him with a small smile. "Thought you'd never ask." He responded.

With that, Jeff and Peewee flew off into the kitchen to get some ice-cream.

**Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

**Again, let's wish Jess a happy birthday. She's been away in University for a while and she'd like it if you said happy birthday to her, just write a message in your reviews and I'll pass it on XD**

_**Pony News**_**: There's been a lot of news floating around lately, some you may even find relieving, like this one for instance.**

**Despite her new Alicorn form, Twilight will **_**not**_** outlive her friends. Meghan McCarthy confirmed this herself.**

**I wanted to remind everyone that the Season 2 DVD is out today on Amazon, I'm gonna buy my copy soon.**

**The spin-off show, **_**Equestria Girls**_**, is expected to come out in theaters next month. The DVD of it is expected to be released in August. However, I can't help but feel worried about the **_**real **_**show. **

**If you could, I'd really appreciate it if you'd say something in your reviews that would ease my worries. Thanks.**

**Anyway, Meghan McCarthy sent a Tweet a while back teasing a new song for Season 4. Here's the twist, it's for someone who's never sung on the show before.**

**She Tweeted, and I quote. "**_**Putting on my lyricist hat today. Gotta come up w/ something great. This is the first time this character will get to sing on the show**_**."**

**Let's hope it's someone like Luna or Discord. In fact, **_**Daniel Ingram**_** once said he'd like to make a song for those two characters, so it might be possible :D**

**Please remember to review.**

**Next chapter will be up soon.**


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